diff --git a/.htaccess b/.htaccess
index 83d67e8f89..1b63f9ad6f 100644
--- a/.htaccess
+++ b/.htaccess
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Deny from all
   # Protect repository directory from browsing
   RewriteRule "(^|/)\.git" - [F]
 
-  # Rewrite current-style URLs of the form 'index.php?q=x'.
+  # Rewrite current-style URLs of the form 'index.php?pagename=x'.
   # Also place auth information into REMOTE_USER for sites running
   # in CGI mode.
 
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Deny from all
 
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
-  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [E=REMOTE_USER:%{HTTP:Authorization},L,QSA]
+  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?pagename=$1 [E=REMOTE_USER:%{HTTP:Authorization},L,QSA]
 
 </IfModule>
 
diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 5ef24f4944..3ea08477d0 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -507,13 +507,20 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 
 			set_include_path("include/$this->hostname" . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());
 
-			if((x($_SERVER,'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],0,2) === "q=") {
+			if((x($_SERVER,'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],0,9) === "pagename=") {
+				$this->query_string = substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],9);
+				// removing trailing / - maybe a nginx problem
+				if (substr($this->query_string, 0, 1) == "/")
+					$this->query_string = substr($this->query_string, 1);
+			} elseif((x($_SERVER,'QUERY_STRING')) && substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],0,2) === "q=") {
 				$this->query_string = substr($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'],2);
 				// removing trailing / - maybe a nginx problem
 				if (substr($this->query_string, 0, 1) == "/")
 					$this->query_string = substr($this->query_string, 1);
 			}
-			if(x($_GET,'q'))
+			if (x($_GET,'pagename'))
+				$this->cmd = trim($_GET['pagename'],'/\\');
+			elseif (x($_GET,'q'))
 				$this->cmd = trim($_GET['q'],'/\\');
 
 			// unix style "homedir"
@@ -1019,7 +1026,8 @@ if(! function_exists('update_db')) {
 
 					$t = get_config('database','dbupdate_'.DB_UPDATE_VERSION);
 					if($t !== false)
-						break;
+						return;
+
 					set_config('database','dbupdate_'.DB_UPDATE_VERSION, time());
 
 					require_once("include/dbstructure.php");
diff --git a/include/api.php b/include/api.php
index ade783662b..69dc51bac9 100644
--- a/include/api.php
+++ b/include/api.php
@@ -122,7 +122,6 @@
 
 		// preset
 		$type="json";
-
 		foreach ($API as $p=>$info){
 			if (strpos($a->query_string, $p)===0){
 				$called_api= explode("/",$p);
@@ -936,6 +935,35 @@
 	}
 	api_register_func('api/users/show','api_users_show');
 
+
+	function api_users_search(&$a, $type) {
+		$page = (x($_REQUEST,'page')?$_REQUEST['page']-1:0);
+
+		$userlist = array();
+
+		if (isset($_GET["q"])) {
+			$r = q("SELECT id FROM unique_contacts WHERE name='%s'", dbesc($_GET["q"]));
+			if (!count($r))
+				$r = q("SELECT id FROM unique_contacts WHERE nick='%s'", dbesc($_GET["q"]));
+
+			if (count($r)) {
+				foreach ($r AS $user) {
+					$user_info = api_get_user($a, $user["id"]);
+					//echo print_r($user_info, true)."\n";
+					$userdata = api_apply_template("user", $type, array('user' => $user_info));
+					$userlist[] = $userdata["user"];
+				}
+				$userlist = array("users" => $userlist);
+			} else
+				die(api_error($a, $type, t("User not found.")));
+		} else
+			die(api_error($a, $type, t("User not found.")));
+
+		return ($userlist);
+	}
+
+	api_register_func('api/users/search','api_users_search');
+
 	/**
 	 *
 	 * http://developer.twitter.com/doc/get/statuses/home_timeline