https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=22307&package_id=3819... This release fixes the problem of MySQLdb-1.0.0 and newer returning BLOBs as character arrays, and returns them as strings. It also should be a bit more robust if connections time out. I would really like to get some feedback on this release within the next week so I can make a final release for 2.0.9. Here's an open issue: Should character data be returned as unicode? It probably wouldn't be hard to implement, but I wonder how much other stuff would break. There's already a ton of stuff being stuffed in the connection string, but it probably needs to be a connection option, doesn't it? -- Computer interfaces should never be made of meat. Using GMail? Setting Reply-to address to <> disables this annoying feature. You are in a maze of twisty little passages all alike. To go north, press 2. To go west, press 4. To go east, press 6. To go south, press 8. If you need assistance, press 0 and a little dwarf will assist you.