diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 089f63b8e..d9c61c66a 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -1810,3 +1810,17 @@
 - When an incorrect command line argument is passed, the IRCd will no longer
   boot. Previously it said 'Server not started' but started anyway.
   Reported and patch provided by ohnobinki (#0003870).
+- Added special caching of remote includes. When a remote include fails to
+  load (for example when the webserver is down), then the most recent
+  version of that remote include will be used, and the ircd will still boot
+  and be able to rehash. Even though this is quite a simple feature, it
+  can make a key difference when deciding to roll out remote includes on
+  your network. Previously, servers would be unable to boot or rehash when
+  the webserver was down, which would be a big problem (often unacceptable).
+  The latest version of fetched urls are cached in the cache/ directory as
+  cache/<md5 hash of url>.
+  Obviously, if there's no 'latest version' and an url fails, the ircd will
+  still not be able to boot. This would be the case if you added or changed
+  the path of a remote include and it's trying to fetch it for the first time.
+  To disable this new behavior, check out REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE in
+  include/config.h.
diff --git a/include/h.h b/include/h.h
index d8bf3de92..a8f3199b5 100644
--- a/include/h.h
+++ b/include/h.h
@@ -635,6 +635,8 @@ extern int count_oper_sessions(char *);
 extern char *unreal_mktemp(char *dir, char *suffix);
 extern char *unreal_getpathname(char *filepath, char *path);
 extern char *unreal_getfilename(char *path);
+extern char *unreal_mkcache(char *url);
+extern int has_cached_version(char *url);
 extern int unreal_copyfile(char *src, char *dest);
 extern int unreal_copyfileex(char *src, char *dest, int tryhardlink);
 extern time_t unreal_getfilemodtime(char *filename);
@@ -752,6 +754,7 @@ extern char *clean_ban_mask(char *, int, aClient *);
 extern void chanfloodtimer_stopchantimers(aChannel *chptr);
 extern int find_invex(aChannel *chptr, aClient *sptr);
 extern void DoMD5(unsigned char *mdout, unsigned char *src, unsigned long n);
+extern char *md5hash(unsigned char *dst, unsigned char *src, unsigned long n);
 #ifdef JOINTHROTTLE
 aJFlood *cmodej_addentry(aClient *cptr, aChannel *chptr);
 void cmodej_delentry(aJFlood *e);
diff --git a/src/ircd.c b/src/ircd.c
index 932de66b0..9e04d8082 100644
--- a/src/ircd.c
+++ b/src/ircd.c
@@ -1370,8 +1370,14 @@ int InitwIRCD(int argc, char *argv[])
 #endif
 #ifndef _WIN32
 	mkdir("tmp", S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IXUSR); /* Create the tmp dir, if it doesn't exist */
+ #if defined(USE_LIBCURL) && defined(REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE)
+ 	mkdir("cache", S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR|S_IXUSR); /* Create the cache dir, if using curl and it doesn't exist */
+ #endif
 #else
 	mkdir("tmp");
+ #if defined(USE_LIBCURL) && defined(REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE)
+ 	mkdir("cache");
+ #endif
 #endif
 #ifndef _WIN32
 	/*
diff --git a/src/md5.c b/src/md5.c
index 5d0393cbd..20d0c440a 100644
--- a/src/md5.c
+++ b/src/md5.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "config.h"
+#include <stdio.h>
 #if !defined(USE_SSL)
 
 #include <string.h>
@@ -292,3 +293,20 @@ MD5_CTX hash;
 	MD5_Update(&hash, src, n);
 	MD5_Final(mdout, &hash);
 }
+
+/** Generates an MD5 checksum - ASCII printable string (0011223344..etc..).
+ * @param dst[out]  Buffer to store result in, this will be the result will be
+ *                  32 characters + nul terminator, so needs to be at least 33 characters.
+ * @param src[in]   The input data used to generate the checksum.
+ * @param n[in]     Length of data.
+ */
+char *md5hash(unsigned char *dst, unsigned char *src, unsigned long n)
+{
+unsigned char tmp[16];
+	
+	DoMD5(tmp, src, n);
+	sprintf(dst, "%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x%02x",
+		tmp[0], tmp[1], tmp[2], tmp[3], tmp[4], tmp[5], tmp[6], tmp[7], tmp[8],
+		tmp[9], tmp[10], tmp[11], tmp[12], tmp[13], tmp[14], tmp[15]);
+	return dst;
+}
diff --git a/src/s_conf.c b/src/s_conf.c
index e01a8d7eb..3a60e05c0 100644
--- a/src/s_conf.c
+++ b/src/s_conf.c
@@ -9438,7 +9438,7 @@ static void conf_download_complete(char *url, char *file, char *errorbuf, int ca
 		}
 	}
 	if (!file && !cached)
-		add_remote_include(file, url, 0, errorbuf);
+		add_remote_include(file, url, 0, errorbuf); /* DOWNLOAD FAILED */
 	else
 	{
 		if (cached)
@@ -9447,11 +9447,18 @@ static void conf_download_complete(char *url, char *file, char *errorbuf, int ca
 			char *file = unreal_getfilename(urlfile);
 			char *tmp = unreal_mktemp("tmp", file);
 			unreal_copyfileex(inc->file, tmp, 1);
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+			unreal_copyfileex(inc->file, unreal_mkcache(url), 0);
+#endif
 			add_remote_include(tmp, url, 0, NULL);
 			free(urlfile);
 		}
-		else
+		else {
 			add_remote_include(file, url, 0, NULL);
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+			unreal_copyfileex(file, unreal_mkcache(url), 0);
+#endif
+		}
 	}
 	for (inc = conf_include; inc; inc = (ConfigItem_include *)inc->next)
 	{
@@ -9648,27 +9655,50 @@ int remote_include(ConfigEntry *ce)
 		file = download_file(ce->ce_vardata, &error);
 		if (!file)
 		{
-			config_error("%s:%i: include: error downloading '%s': %s",
-				ce->ce_fileptr->cf_filename, ce->ce_varlinenum,
-				 ce->ce_vardata, error);
-			return -1;
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			if ((ret = load_conf(file)) >= 0)
-				add_remote_include(file, ce->ce_vardata, INCLUDE_USED, NULL);
-			free(file);
-			return ret;
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+			if (has_cached_version(ce->ce_vardata))
+			{
+				config_warn("%s:%i: include: error downloading '%s': %s -- using cached version instead.",
+					ce->ce_fileptr->cf_filename, ce->ce_varlinenum,
+					ce->ce_vardata, error);
+				file = strdup(unreal_mkcache(ce->ce_vardata));
+				/* Let it pass to load_conf()... */
+			} else {
+#endif
+				config_error("%s:%i: include: error downloading '%s': %s",
+					ce->ce_fileptr->cf_filename, ce->ce_varlinenum,
+					 ce->ce_vardata, error);
+				return -1;
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+			}
+#endif
 		}
+		if ((ret = load_conf(file)) >= 0)
+			add_remote_include(file, ce->ce_vardata, INCLUDE_USED, NULL);
+		free(file);
+		return ret;
 	}
 	else
 	{
 		if (errorbuf)
 		{
-			config_error("%s:%i: include: error downloading '%s': %s",
-                                ce->ce_fileptr->cf_filename, ce->ce_varlinenum,
-                                ce->ce_vardata, errorbuf);
-			return -1;
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+			if (has_cached_version(ce->ce_vardata))
+			{
+				config_warn("%s:%i: include: error downloading '%s': %s -- using cached version instead.",
+					ce->ce_fileptr->cf_filename, ce->ce_varlinenum,
+					ce->ce_vardata, errorbuf);
+				/* Let it pass to load_conf()... */
+				file = strdup(unreal_mkcache(ce->ce_vardata));
+			} else {
+#endif
+				config_error("%s:%i: include: error downloading '%s': %s",
+					ce->ce_fileptr->cf_filename, ce->ce_varlinenum,
+					ce->ce_vardata, errorbuf);
+				return -1;
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+			}
+#endif
 		}
 		if (config_verbose > 0)
 			config_status("Loading %s from download", ce->ce_vardata);
diff --git a/src/support.c b/src/support.c
index f8a5a8c9c..e4f5f19b2 100644
--- a/src/support.c
+++ b/src/support.c
@@ -1760,6 +1760,24 @@ char *unreal_getfilename(char *path)
         return end;
 }
 
+/* Returns a consistent filename for the cache/ directory.
+ * Returned value will be like: cache/<hash of url>
+ */
+char *unreal_mkcache(char *url)
+{
+static char tempbuf[PATH_MAX+1];
+char tmp2[33];
+	
+	snprintf(tempbuf, PATH_MAX, "cache/%s", md5hash(tmp2, url, strlen(url)));
+	return tempbuf;
+}
+
+/* Returns 1 if a cached version of the url exists, otherwise 0. */
+int has_cached_version(char *url)
+{
+	return file_exists(unreal_mkcache(url));
+}
+
 /* Copys the contents of the src file to the dest file.
  * The dest file will have permissions r-x------
  */