diff --git a/phpBB/includes/db/dbal.php b/phpBB/includes/db/dbal.php
index 8192de210b..99474635b6 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/db/dbal.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/db/dbal.php
@@ -186,12 +186,12 @@ abstract class phpbb_dbal
 	/**
 	* @var string Wildcard for matching any (%) character within LIKE expressions
 	*/
-	protected $any_char;
+	public $any_char;
 
 	/**
 	* @var string Wildcard for matching exactly one (_) character within LIKE expressions
 	*/
-	protected $one_char;
+	public $one_char;
 
 	/**
 	* @var array Storing cached result rowset
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/db/firebird.php b/phpBB/includes/db/firebird.php
index f39db15d0d..e01714d405 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/db/firebird.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/db/firebird.php
@@ -75,7 +75,84 @@ class dbal_firebird extends dbal
 		{
 			return @ibase_server_info($this->service_handle, IBASE_SVC_SERVER_VERSION);
 		}
+/*				// check the version of FB, use some hackery if we can't get access to the server info
+				if ($db->service_handle !== false && strtolower($dbuser) == 'sysdba')
+				{
+					$val = @ibase_server_info($db->service_handle, IBASE_SVC_SERVER_VERSION);
+					preg_match('#V([\d.]+)#', $val, $match);
+					if ($match[1] < 2)
+					{
+						$error[] = $lang['INST_ERR_DB_NO_FIREBIRD'];
+					}
+					$db_info = @ibase_db_info($db->service_handle, $dbname, IBASE_STS_HDR_PAGES);
 
+					preg_match('/^\\s*Page size\\s*(\\d+)/m', $db_info, $regs);
+					$page_size = intval($regs[1]);
+					if ($page_size < 8192)
+					{
+						$error[] = $lang['INST_ERR_DB_NO_FIREBIRD_PS'];
+					}
+				}
+				else
+				{
+					$sql = "SELECT *
+						FROM RDB$FUNCTIONS
+						WHERE RDB$SYSTEM_FLAG IS NULL
+							AND RDB$FUNCTION_NAME = 'CHAR_LENGTH'";
+					$result = $db->sql_query($sql);
+					$row = $db->sql_fetchrow($result);
+					$db->sql_freeresult($result);
+
+					// if its a UDF, its too old
+					if ($row)
+					{
+						$error[] = $lang['INST_ERR_DB_NO_FIREBIRD'];
+					}
+					else
+					{
+						$sql = "SELECT FIRST 0 char_length('')
+							FROM RDB\$DATABASE";
+						$result = $db->sql_query($sql);
+						if (!$result) // This can only fail if char_length is not defined
+						{
+							$error[] = $lang['INST_ERR_DB_NO_FIREBIRD'];
+						}
+						$db->sql_freeresult($result);
+					}
+
+					// Setup the stuff for our random table
+					$char_array = array_merge(range('A', 'Z'), range('0', '9'));
+					$char_len = mt_rand(7, 9);
+					$char_array_len = sizeof($char_array) - 1;
+
+					$final = '';
+
+					for ($i = 0; $i < $char_len; $i++)
+					{
+						$final .= $char_array[mt_rand(0, $char_array_len)];
+					}
+
+					// Create some random table
+					$sql = 'CREATE TABLE ' . $final . " (
+						FIELD1 VARCHAR(255) CHARACTER SET UTF8 DEFAULT '' NOT NULL COLLATE UNICODE,
+						FIELD2 INTEGER DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL);";
+					$db->sql_query($sql);
+
+					// Create an index that should fail if the page size is less than 8192
+					$sql = 'CREATE INDEX ' . $final . ' ON ' . $final . '(FIELD1, FIELD2);';
+					$db->sql_query($sql);
+
+					if (ibase_errmsg() !== false)
+					{
+						$error[] = $lang['INST_ERR_DB_NO_FIREBIRD_PS'];
+					}
+
+					// Kill the old table
+					$db->sql_query('DROP TABLE ' . $final . ';');
+
+					unset($final);
+				}
+*/
 		return ($raw) ? '2.0' : 'Firebird/Interbase';
 	}
 
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/db/mysqli.php b/phpBB/includes/db/mysqli.php
index 3c153e8dfe..fba7b2c22d 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/db/mysqli.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/db/mysqli.php
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ class phpbb_dbal_mysqli extends phpbb_dbal
 			$row = @mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
 			@mysqli_free_result($result);
 
-			$this->sql_server_version = $row['version'];
+			$this->sql_server_version = trim($row['version']);
 
 			if (phpbb::registered('acm'))
 			{
@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ class phpbb_dbal_mysqli extends phpbb_dbal
 
 	/**
 	* Handle data by using prepared statements. See {@link phpbb_dbal::sql_handle_data() sql_handle_data()} for details.
+	* @todo implement correctly by using types. ;)
 	*/
 	public function sql_handle_data($type, $table, $data, $where = '')
 	{
@@ -245,7 +246,7 @@ class phpbb_dbal_mysqli extends phpbb_dbal
 
 			if ($where !== '')
 			{
-				$query .= $where;
+				$query .= ' WHERE ' . $where;
 			}
 
 			$stmt = mysqli_prepare($this->db_connect_id, $query);