function to simply pass thru the key value, which is already a hash value.

mainly 4-byte hashes already, there is no locality-of-reference to exploit
as a Btree. About a 7% performance gain.

It must be specified on individual put() operations (and already is).

Plugged other small leaks.

it was not being read.

BDB's default key sort algorithm sorts in the wrong order (and there's no
convenient way to select the correct algorithm). This is an incompatible
change to the database format but will improve back-ldbm's add/delete
characteristics.

to deal with glued subordinates.

improvements to monitor backend: added a log entry that lists the current log level and can be modified via protocol at runtime, to change the log level; minor improvements; fixed a problem in dealing with dn normalization