Introducing compatibility layers

 - Limited support for mbstring (mb_strlen(), mb_strpos(), mb_substr() only) via iconv.
   Falls back to regular strlen(), strpos(), substr() if iconv is not available.
 - Password hashing, dependant on CRYPT_BLOWFISH (2y version, available since PHP 5.3.7) availability.
diff --git a/system/core/compat/mbstring.php b/system/core/compat/mbstring.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91ea801
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/core/compat/mbstring.php
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * CodeIgniter
+ *
+ * An open source application development framework for PHP 5.2.4 or newer
+ *
+ * NOTICE OF LICENSE
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Open Software License version 3.0
+ *
+ * This source file is subject to the Open Software License (OSL 3.0) that is
+ * bundled with this package in the files license.txt / license.rst.  It is
+ * also available through the world wide web at this URL:
+ * http://opensource.org/licenses/OSL-3.0
+ * If you did not receive a copy of the license and are unable to obtain it
+ * through the world wide web, please send an email to
+ * licensing@ellislab.com so we can send you a copy immediately.
+ *
+ * @package		CodeIgniter
+ * @author		EllisLab Dev Team
+ * @copyright	Copyright (c) 2008 - 2014, EllisLab, Inc. (http://ellislab.com/)
+ * @license		http://opensource.org/licenses/OSL-3.0 Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
+ * @link		http://codeigniter.com
+ * @since		Version 3.0
+ * @filesource
+ */
+defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');
+
+/**
+ * PHP ext/mbstring compatibility package
+ *
+ * @package		CodeIgniter
+ * @subpackage	CodeIgniter
+ * @category	Compatibility
+ * @author		Andrey Andreev
+ * @link		http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/
+ * @link		http://php.net/mbstring
+ */
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if (MB_ENABLED === TRUE)
+{
+	return;
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('mb_strlen'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * mb_strlen()
+	 *
+	 * WARNING: This function WILL fall-back to strlen()
+	 * if iconv is not available!
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/mb_strlen
+	 * @param	string	$str
+	 * @param	string	$encoding
+	 * @return	string
+	 */
+	function mb_strlen($str, $encoding = NULL)
+	{
+		if (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE)
+		{
+			return iconv_strlen($str, isset($charset) ? $charset : config_item('charset'));
+		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Compatibility (mbstring): iconv_strlen() is not available, falling back to strlen().');
+		return strlen($str);
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('mb_strpos'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * mb_strpos()
+	 *
+	 * WARNING: This function WILL fall-back to strpos()
+	 * if iconv is not available!
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/mb_strpos()
+	 * @param	string	$haystack
+	 * @param	string	$needle
+	 * @param	int	$offset
+	 * @param	string	$encoding
+	 * @return	mixed
+	 */
+	function mb_strpos($haystack, $needle, $offset = 0, $encoding = NULL)
+	{
+		if (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE)
+		{
+			return iconv_strpos($haystack, $needle, $offset, isset($encoding) ? $encoding : config_item('charset'));
+		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Compatibility (mbstring): iconv_strpos() is not available, falling back to strpos().');
+		return strpos($haystack, $needle, $offset);
+	}
+}
+
+// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+if ( ! function_exists('mb_substr'))
+{
+	/**
+	 * mb_substr()
+	 *
+	 * WARNING: This function WILL fall-back to substr()
+	 * if iconv is not available.
+	 *
+	 * @link	http://php.net/mb_substr
+	 * @param	string	$str
+	 * @param	int	$start
+	 * @param	int 	$length
+	 * @param	string	$encoding
+	 * @return	string
+	 */
+	function mb_substr($str, $start, $length = NULL, $encoding = NULL)
+	{
+		if (ICONV_ENABLED === TRUE)
+		{
+			isset($encoding) OR $encoding = config_item('charset');
+			return iconv_substr(
+				$str,
+				$start,
+				isset($length) ? $length : iconv_strlen($str, $encoding), // NULL doesn't work
+				$encoding
+			);
+		}
+
+		log_message('debug', 'Compatibility (mbstring): iconv_substr() is not available, falling back to substr().');
+		return isset($length)
+			? substr($str, $start, $length)
+			: substr($str, $start);
+	}
+}
+
+/* End of file mbstring.php */
+/* Location: ./system/core/compat/mbstring.php */
\ No newline at end of file