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

1) 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 its 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.

2) 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

3) 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.

       Note: 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. 

4) Configuration

    1. Go to your "services bin directory" (eg: /home/someuser/services/) and run 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.

5) 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.
    This is a one way encryption algorithm. SLOW

        MysqlSecure "sha"

    Calculates an SHA 160-bit checksum for the password. The value is 
    returned as a 40-digit hex number. This is a one way encryption 
    algorithm. 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.

    Caveat: If you enable MysqlSecure you can not longer use the UseRDB directive
    as all the password types are encrypted with a one way encryption method for
    older MySQL servers.