Anope MySQL Support
-------------------

Introduction:

    Anope 1.6 onwards supports MySQL databases. On Anope 1.6.0 only PHASE 1 
    has been implemented. Since the next phases require major changes in the 
    core, we decided to save it for 2.0. However, having your db's easily 
    accessible on your website is still a great feature.

    PHASE 1:Anope will be able to save all it's databases to MySQL. It will 
    happen in conjunction with the current FFF databases. This first step is 
    nothing more than a MySQL dump of the databases (i.e. read-only), since 
    Anope will not (for now) read from Mysql. (COMPLETED)

    PHASE 2:The next step is load the databases from MySQL, being able to 
    replace the FFF completely as an archive method (since all changes to 
    the MySQL db would be lost on the next Services save). All, while keeping 
    FFF intact. This is still not the final goal, but it's a milestone.
    (COMPLETED)
    
    UPDATE: Anope 1.7.0 (Revision 11 and above) finally supports phase 2!
            A new config directive called 'UseRDB' has been added.
            If you enable this, anope will automatically try to load its
            data from MySQL (if configured and compiled with).

    PHASE 3:The next step, and most convoluted of all (since we'll need to 
    modify pretty much all the source) is to load/save (SELECT/INSERT) data 
    in realtime. That way the MySQL db could be modified externally (web?).  
    Again, the FFF will be kept intact.

Requirements:

    1. MySQL server version 3.23.32 or greater
    2. MySQL libs and development files (usually called mysql-dev).
    3. A MySQL user account
    4. A MySQL database

Installation:

    1. The ./Config script automatically detects if your system is capable
       of running Anope with MySQL support. There is no need anymore to
       answer yes when asked.

       Notes:

       * MySQL is not supported on the following platforms: Windows.
       * You might need to run "make distclean" prior to running ./Config

    2. Compile Anope as usual. The (g)make process will now compile MySQL
       support into Anope.

    3. Install Anope as usual. 

Configuration:

    1. Run bin/mydbgen to help on the schema creation and adjustments.

    2. Edit services.conf and add your MySQL data to the MySQL configuration
       block. 

    3. Start or restart services to make use of the new Anope executable.

Security:

   To add a layer of security you have the option of encrypting or encoding
   all passwords for nicks and chans. Use the "MysqlSecure" directive on your
   services.conf file to enable it. The available storage methods are:

   #MysqlSecure "" or MysqlSecure ""

      Disables security. All passwords will be saved on the MySQL database
      as clear text, with no encryption or encoding. FASTEST

   MysqlSecure "des"

      Encrypts all passwords using a UNIX DES encryption. This is a one way
      encryption algorithm. You can only validate it against another DES
      encrypted string, using the same "salt" (the first two characters of
      the encrypted string). FAST

   MysqlSecure "md5"

      Calculates an MD5 128-bit checksum for the password. The value is 
      returned as a 32-digit hex number that may be used as a hash key.
      SLOW

   MysqlSecure "sha"

      Calculates an SHA 160-bit checksum for the password. The value is 
      returned as a 40-digit hex number. SLOWEST

   MysqlSecure "mykey"

      Encodes the passwords using "mykey" as the encryption password. It
      produces a binary string and can be decoded using the MySQL built in
      function DECODE(crypt_str,mykey). VARIABLE

   Caveat: Keep in mind that this if you use any method other than clear
   text, services will need to encrypt/encode every single password on
   every database save. On large networks, it may impact responsiveness
   during the saves.

