Sphinx: A History Of The Sphinx Web Portal

Published on Dynamic Systems and Content Solutions.

In The Beginning…

Back in the days of YaBB SE, there was a portal project referred to as YaPP (No relation to the “Wish I were a real portal” you may have unfortunately seen over at SMF). This project became stale, and a nice gal by the name of Michelle Mauro decided to lend a hand.

It was re-branded as PfaBB, and hit the streets.

Pfabb Sees Light, Enigma Emerges

PfaBB had its usefulness, but it was terribly munged deep into the YaBB SE code. Adding a few developers to the mix, PfaBB was rewritten to become Enigma, and found itself with quite the following for a small, niche, portal project. Unfortunately, the Enigma 1.x branch still suffered from being well mingled into the YaBB SE code, and provided it’s own YaBB SE files accordingly.

As time passed, the developers (which included your now beloved DynSCS developers), had dreams of standing alone. As this version was being worked on, YaBB SE reinvented itself into what is now the Simple Machines Forum (SMF). Stuck in a quandary, the “Enigma” team pondered which direction to take. Keep on with the push to stand on its own legs, or give their community what it was begging for: SMF compatibility.

YaBB SE Becomes SMF, Enigma 2 Becomes Reality

After much consideration and discussion behind the scenes, it was decided to create Enigma 2. It took many, many months of development to bring forward, and your (now) DynSCS developers poured their heart and soul into the writing of it as their personal schedules allowed.

In November of 2005, Enigma 2 was born with a limited alpha test. That December, just in time for Christmas, a public beta version was released for the masses whom had patiently waited with faith in the then current Enigma team.

Enigma 2 saw light through an embarrassing 5 beta versions, and finally saw light with Enigma 2, Release Candidate 1.

Unfortunately, this is where the project still sits today.

Their last release was just before Chris (CrazyC) and Luke departed the project. We are not aware of any development or progress since.

Development Team Departs

This section is aptly named, believe it or not. After well over a year of no support from other “developers” for various “reasons”, your now DynSCS developers had flat out had enough. It was time for us to take a new direction, so we made notice that we were going to move in a different direction.

Well, you can imagine the chaos that then ensued, and we need not say whom raised the stink as you can make your own “guess”. We’re not here to harass or dime out someone, we’re here for a project history.

Our intent was not to walk away with the project. However considering the lack of support from anyone other than ourselves, it was perceived that way. However we did the right thing and allowed the opportunity to continue on as a fork, under the then current license and brand. The end result of allowing the fork is what you see today with that project. Release Candidate 1.

So with the end solution reached, the code fork, the LSP/Enigma project would move forward, and your humble developers here would move forward as well. Retaining the rights to the code base for use as they saw fit and chose to do.

To be honest, initially we decided to leave it alone and let them run their course with the best of luck.

A year later and no final release, no SMF 1.1 compatibility, and a lack of communication from their development team has brought us to where we are today.

Innocent people, who put their trust in the project, were suffering. We can’t allow that any longer. We let their development team have their shot, and now it’s time to act and make things right.

Sphinx Is Born

Enter the Dynamic System Portal, Sphinx.

According to the good old dictionary from Random House:

Sphinx [sfingks]: –noun
A mysterious, inscrutable person or thing, esp. one given to enigmatic questions or answers.

Sphinx was born in a cloud of mystery, and is an enigmatic answer to a well supported, diverse web portal and CMS solution.

The development team here currently consists of the two developers you know and trust, Chris (CrazyC) and Luke. They have seen their former community suffer enough, and it’s time they get not only what they want, but what they deserve.

They deserve answers, solid software, and a committed development team that shares the same goals as they do.

The time for action is at hand, and the action is being taken here at Dynamic Systems and Content Solutions.

Sphinx: The Future

The first Sphinx release (1.0) is minor, a transition if you will, but is extremely important. It will build the future for what Sphinx will become.

Sphinx 1.0 will allow for an easy upgrade from the old Enigma 2.0 (RC1) project, as well as provide a clean installation as well.

It addresses all known issues with that RC1 “thing”, and provides temporary relief to some of the issues with that project. This is meant to help ease your “pain” temporarily, as it was seen as a great need in addition to SMF 1.1 support.

Sphinx 1.1 (Release: Mid-Spring 2007) will bring with it the stability of the Sphinx 1.0 release, and be completely compatible with SMF 1.1. It’s what you’ve been drooling for, and anticipating for many, many months. We’re bringing it to you, and in a fashion that will be unmatched by others.

Sphinx 2.0 (Release: Late Fall 2007) will rock your world. It’s everything the community has dreamed and been teased with for years. A standalone Portal/CMS, bridges to many popular forum choices, if desired, and bridging with many other projects as well. In addition, there will be many, many feature improvements. We won’t tease you with what, yet, however it will set the standard for web portals and CMS applications everywhere. It will be even more user friendly, more intuitive, and easier to “theme” than even Enigma 1 was.

Thanks!

From here we move forward, and leave the past behind. We appreciate you putting your trust and faith in this project, and we commit to you to be the responsive, intelligent, supportive people you’ve come to expect yet have been lacking in the past many months. We might “pick” on ya a little bit, but it’s all fun and games. Just remember to search the forums and check the documentation first.

Please Note: This project is in no way related to (other than previously described) Enigma 2, or Lunabyte Systems Portal. We do not offer support for their “project”, other than for upgrading from it to the most excellent, and superior, Sphinx. Upgrades from their project will be provided (as currently planned) for Sphinx 1.0 only. With Sphinx 1.1, you will either be required to be running Sphinx 1.0, or need to perform a clean installation of Sphinx 1.1.