diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index d4122c47cb..e24d45c65b 100755
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -17871,3 +17871,9 @@ David  29 Sept 2004
 		client_state.C
 		client_types.C
 		gui_rpc_server.C
+
+David  30 Sept 2004
+    - added -db_host option to db_dump (so it can use a DB replica)
+
+    sched/
+        db_dump.C
diff --git a/doc/software.php b/doc/software.php
index bbf1b6d7b5..e928d4756e 100644
--- a/doc/software.php
+++ b/doc/software.php
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ On Debian Linux you can install all of the above software using
 <code>apt-get install g++ python python-mysqldb python-xml mysql-server mysql-client apache php4 automake autoconf</code>
 </blockquote>
 
+<p>
+Some info on installing BOINC on Linux is
+<a href=http://torque.oncloud8.com/archives/000124.html>here</a>.
 
 <h2>Windows client software</h2>
 Required for compiling:
diff --git a/sched/db_dump.C b/sched/db_dump.C
index 54b442495d..c0fa1abc82 100644
--- a/sched/db_dump.C
+++ b/sched/db_dump.C
@@ -700,6 +700,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     SCHED_CONFIG config;
     int retval, i;
     DUMP_SPEC spec;
+    char* db_host = 0;
     char spec_filename[256], buf[256];
 
     check_stop_daemons();
@@ -710,42 +711,52 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     for (i=1; i<argc; i++) {
         if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-dump_spec")) {
             strcpy(spec_filename, argv[++i]);
+        } else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-db_host")) {
+            db_host = argv[++i];
+        } else {
+            log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "Usage\n");
+            exit(1);
         }
     }
 
     if (!strlen(spec_filename)) {
-        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "no spec file given\n");
+        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "no spec file given\n");
         exit(1);
     }
 
     FILE* f = fopen(spec_filename, "r");
     if (!f) {
-        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "spec file missing\n");
+        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "spec file missing\n");
         exit(1);
     }
 
     retval = spec.parse(f);
     if (retval) {
-        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "can't parse spec file\n");
+        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "can't parse spec file\n");
         exit(1);
     }
 
     fclose(f);
 
     if (lock_file(LOCKFILE)) {
-        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "Another copy of db_dump is already running\n");
+        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "Another copy of db_dump is already running\n");
         exit(1);
     }
     log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "Starting\n");
 
     retval = config.parse_file("..");
     if (retval) {
-        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "Can't parse config file\n");
+        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "Can't parse config file\n");
         exit(1);
     }
-    retval = boinc_db.open(config.db_name, config.db_host, config.db_user, config.db_passwd);
+    retval = boinc_db.open(
+        config.db_name,
+        db_host?db_host:config.db_host,
+        config.db_user,
+        config.db_passwd
+    );
     if (retval) {
-        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::NORMAL, "Can't open DB\n");
+        log_messages.printf(SCHED_MSG_LOG::CRITICAL, "Can't open DB\n");
         exit(1);
     }