merge from hpdl r725, r728, r729, r732, r733, r734 - standardize general.php functions - new osC_Address class for adadress related functions (incl. address format string being moved to the countries database table)
this commit includes changes to osc_href_link() which the administration tool was also going to use - it is not yet known if this change will be kept or not
move configuration parameter set and use functions to a new admin/includes/functions/cfg_parameters/ directory .. this allows contributions to define their own set and use parameter functions without the need to edit the general.php function file