Icy Phoenix

Hi all,
after 10 months from the first public release, I'm proud to announce the release of Icy Phoenix 1.2.

Many things have been changed since first release with the main objective to add stability and improve overall performance.

As many of you already know just few months ago phpBB 3 has been released. Icy Phoenix still rely on phpBB 2 core code, even if the code has been improved by backporting some phpBB 3 functions and some new features coded from scratch. The result can be considered an hybrid platform in the middle between the "furious brand new" phpBB 3 and the "old but still good" phpBB 2. I think that Icy Phoenix code is now mature and the platform may be considered stable, but as you know I'm not a professional and even if I put in this project all my best efforts Icy Phoenix is far to be perfect. Overall I can say that the main goal has been reached: Icy Phoenix is a CMS which offers many features integrated, a friendly interface, and it is suitable for small/medium web communities which are looking for an integrated system to manage their contents.


What's New respect to Icy Phoenix 1.1.0.15

• CMS features: now it is possible to assign blocks on single pages, not only as global blocks, but as specific blocks. It is possible also to duplicate blocks from others layout.
  
• Groups system: the old color group mod has been dropped and a new system has been recoded to make groups management close to phpBB 3 way.
  
• ACP: I've recoded ACP section related to Icy Phoenix with an easiest to use modular panel. Now it is really easy to add switches and new items in ACP, without having to modify TPLs. Some old files have been deleted and new ones have been created. Make sure to clean your old ADM folder if you are installing this.
  
• Save as draft: it is now possible to save posts and PM as drafts. The function is similar to phpBB 3 one, but much more simpler and with less features.
  
• Caching images: all images are now sent in cache, even external ones. A direct link is then included in the post for saving CPU charge (despite of more disk usage). This will speed up Icy Phoenix a bit, especially for those servers that don't like getimagesize PHP function. Only dynamic images won't be cached.
  
• New Downloads System: since I need this pack for an extra work, I've decided to integrate it in Icy Phoenix so you can use it in conjunction or alternatively to PA File DB. There is no link for this, but you can choose in constants.php where download link should point to. This feature it is still under test, and currently it is configured to not use any extra SQL charge to the package. (Because I've disabled features who where SQL consuming for Icy Phoenix).
  
• Friends List: this is a light version of the Friends and Foes feature in phpBB3. The objective of this feature is to easily access your friends profile and allow them to be the only people allowed to send you PM (there is an extra switch in your profile).
  
• Pages sessions: phpBB 3 has a much more flexible pages sessioning system, allowing better tracking of what users do. In Icy Phoenix I have partially replicated it, by modifying the way sessions work.
  
• Actions logs: I have coded a small and simple logging system which stores on files all the actions performed by users which alter in some way the DB. The logs are difficult to read, so it is disabled by default and the switch to enable it is hidden. If someone is interested in I may show how to enable it... but I won't help in reading it, because it is tough for who doesn't know PHP, and how requests are made.
  
• Extra stuff not enabled by default and not supported: since many of you requested integration of Cash and Activity, I have decided to integrate this in Icy Phoenix, and I will continue to keep them updated as the release is going on... but no support will be given with these extra features.
  
• Templates: some small adjustments have been applied to the templating system to make it a bit more flexible and some new templates designed by me will be available with this release.
  
• Extra BBCodes: there are now extra BBCodes you can use to format your posts... as soon as I have the time I will include some demos. Plus there is now a random number generator.
  
• Extra debugging: phpBB 3 has a cool debugging feature which tells you the queries of each page and the time used for them. I've tried to enhance this feature a bit including some extra info and memory usage. This will be tremendously helpful for those webmasters who wants to understand the entity of Icy Phoenix charge and settings. Extra info about the usage of this feature, will follow.
  
• Small fixes, improvements and adjustments: several small fixes, improvements and adjustments have been applied to the package. I don't have a full list of them, but you will notice some changes somewhere... I hope you will appreciate all new thingst. Just some of them: resend registration, remove cookies, album rss, new thumbnails functions, possibility to disable cache for some images (cache=false), ability to sort recent and search by forum... and others.
  
• Security fixes: unfortunately I've found during the dev phase some extra security holes... maybe some others are still there, I will try to do my best to assure an higher level of security and quick updates just in case other security issues will arise in the future.

Older templates: Please note that templates designed for 1.1.0.15 won't work fine with this version. All older styles have to be updated before using them. I will try to show template creators the way the may follow to upgrade their templates.


Translations: Please note that lang packs for 1.1.0.15 won't work with this version. Lang packs need to be updated before you can use them on your site. Especially the ACP modules requires one brand new file (even if most of lang vars may be imported from old lang files). Some old files have been deleted to limit the number of includes and speed up things a bit.


Older files: Please note that this version has some brand new files and some old files have been deleted. This means that if you are going to use this release you have to clean up your files from old unused stuffs which may create problems if you don't. I have created a file to help you in this, it is called clean_old_files_ip.php and its purpose is to remove old unused files (this file may not run correctly on some servers configurations).


Let's summarize for those who are going to upgrade from older versions:

1. Make a full backup (both db and files).
   
2. Lock your Icy Phoenix from ACP.
   
3. Upload and run update_to_ip.php chosing the best option for your current configuration.
   
4. Upload all files making sure you are not overwriting your CONFIG.PHP and other core files like DEF_*.
   
5. If you are not using English or Italian make sure there is a lang pack available for this release, otherwise your site won't work properly.
   
6. Upload and run clean_old_files_ip.php.
   
7. Remove update_to_ip.php and clean_old_files_ip.php from your root.
   
8. Go to YOUR_IP_ROOT/adm/erc.php and empty the cache of your site.
   
9. Check that your site is working fine and then unlock it.
   
10. Enjoy your brand new Icy Phoenix!!!

Installation And Upgrade

As usual, no code changes will be released, and won't probably be released for any version in the future. This is because the package is quite huge and writing code changes requires much time: as I already said in the past, I prefer to focus my free time on developing the package instead of writing huge code changes that could be difficult to be applied. Trust me, in most cases it is quicker to replace old files with new ones and reapply eventually added mods (you should take note of the mods you have applied). My efforts will be dedicated to the upgrade procedures to allow you to upgrade your sites with the smallest unexpected issues. Please consider also that due to some core changes almost all files have been modified since first Icy Phoenix version.


In install folder now you have some extra files you may use to convert your board, delete old files, fix db tables...

• install.php: this is for brand new installations.
  
• update_to_ip.php: this is for upgrading from phpBB or any XS or Icy Phoenix versions.
  
• clean_tables_ip.php: if you want to clean up your tables, resetting them to the default Icy Phoenix ones, you can use this files. This file is meant for standard Icy Phoenix, not for modded versions. This file may be used even when upgrading from other platform: phpBB Plus, IntegraMOD, FullyModded... etc. Please note that this action cannot be undone, make sure you have a full db backup before proceding.
  
• clean_old_files_ip.php: this files will delete all unused files from previous installations of Icy Phoenix. Please note that this action cannot be undone, make sure you have a full backup of all files before proceding. (This file may not run correctly on some servers configurations)

• Overview
  
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  Readme
  
  
• Requirements
  
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• Fresh Installation
  
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  Readme
  
  
• Upgrade From Icy Phoenix 1.1.0.15
  
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  Readme
  
  

Available Packages

The release package includes only the basic package with two skins and English language. Extra languages, templates and features are (or will be) available in Download section. The package is quite big because there are many files and images in it.





Special Thanks

I'll be short... but it doesn't mean that only few people have to be thanked... on the contrary there are so many people who helped me so far which I could not even remember all their names. So I would like to thank all the people involved directly or indirectly in this project especially the Staff of this site.

Thank you!

A special thank goes to my family, and especially to my mother: it is her birthday today and I would like to dedicate this release to her. Happy Birthday Mamma!


Support

Should you ask for support, please remember that this is an open source community and me and all the Staff are doing all for free and in their spare time... be kind, be patient and respect other users efforts and hard work.



Enjoy Icy Phoenix!
Luca Libralato

WOWWWWWW!!!!! :mrgreen:

Nice work, tomorrow test again :wink:

The Dutch language will soon as possible update for this version! Thanks for all Mighty Gorgon!!!

1.Best for birthday of your mother from all of us here...

2.Thank you !

Thanks for this super package.

Your Great !!!

Greetzz

excelent work..

thank you

 :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:

Yipee.  this is wonderful and i can't wait to go home to update my site.  and it's way sooner than your promise.

Thank you MG,


Also, I can't sing, then i want to use this to sing Happy B-day to her.


YouTube Link

All yellow card erased as a present for new release... :wink:

Be wise! :P

downloading! and working on it :D

Thanks for the good work :mrgreen:

Mighty Gorgon wrote: [View Post]

A special thank goes to my family, and especially to my mother: it is her birthday today and I would like to dedicate this release to her. Happy Birthday Mamma!

Congratulations Mamaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!  :mrviolet:

Now seriously, thank you for all your work MG.
It is a pleasure to be present at this project.

Greets.

Thanks!  8)

Wow, I'll be sure to try this later. :roll:

thank you!

and happy birthday for you mamaa!

A Great job Luca,  :mricy:  And a credit to you and all of the team for the way it has turned out.

You are also to be praised for dedicating your effort to, and releasing it on your mother's birthday as something of a "Special" present and event.  :D

You're just a "Softie" :mryellow:

And a Happy Birthday and best wishes to Mrs Libralato Snr from me.

David.