diff --git a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
index 5ea0d3e..baf55b4 100644
--- a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
+++ b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
@@ -2773,6 +2773,9 @@ _mysql_NewException(
 	return e;
 }
 
+#define QUOTE(X) _QUOTE(X)
+#define _QUOTE(X) #X
+
 static char _mysql___doc__[] =
 "an adaptation of the MySQL C API (mostly)\n\
 \n\
@@ -2807,11 +2810,11 @@ init_mysql(void)
 
 	if (!(dict = PyModule_GetDict(module))) goto error;
 	if (PyDict_SetItemString(dict, "version_info",
-			       PyRun_String(version_info, Py_eval_input,
+			       PyRun_String(QUOTE(version_info), Py_eval_input,
 				       dict, dict)))
 		goto error;
 	if (PyDict_SetItemString(dict, "__version__",
-			       PyString_FromString(__version__)))
+			       PyString_FromString(QUOTE(__version__))))
 		goto error;
 	if (PyDict_SetItemString(dict, "connection",
 			       (PyObject *)&_mysql_ConnectionObject_Type))
diff --git a/MySQLdb/setup.py b/MySQLdb/setup.py
index 1c655db..b8a1cd1 100644
--- a/MySQLdb/setup.py
+++ b/MySQLdb/setup.py
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ def enabled(option):
     else:
         raise Abort, "Unknown value %s for option %s" % (value, option)
 
+if os.name == "posix":
+    flag_prefix = "-"
+else: # assume windows
+    flag_prefix = "/"
+
+def compiler_flag(f): return flag_prefix + f
+
 extra_objects = []
 static = enabled('static')
 if enabled('embedded'):
@@ -65,26 +72,26 @@ if enabled('embedded'):
     name = name + "-embedded"
 metadata['name'] = name
 
-library_dirs = [ dequote(i[2:]) for i in libs if i.startswith("-L") ]
-libraries = [ dequote(i[2:]) for i in libs if i.startswith("-l") ]
+library_dirs = [ dequote(i[2:]) for i in libs if i.startswith(compiler_flag("L")) ]
+libraries = [ dequote(i[2:]) for i in libs if i.startswith(compiler_flag("l")) ]
 
-removable_compile_args = '-I -L -l'.split()
+removable_compile_args = [ compiler_flag(f) for f in "ILl" ]
 extra_compile_args = [ i for i in mysql_config("cflags")
                        if i[:2] not in removable_compile_args ]
 include_dirs = [ dequote(i[2:])
                  for i in mysql_config('include')
-                 if i.startswith('-I') ]
+                 if i.startswith(compiler_flag('I')) ]
 if not include_dirs: # fix for MySQL-3.23
     include_dirs = [ dequote(i[2:])
 		     for i in mysql_config('cflags')
-		     if i.startswith('-I') ]
+		     if i.startswith(compiler_flag('I')) ]
 
 if static:
     extra_objects.append(os.path.join(
         library_dirs[0],'lib%s.a' % client))
 
-extra_compile_args.append("-Dversion_info=\"%s\"" % metadata['version_info'])
-extra_compile_args.append("-D__version__=\"%s\"" % metadata['version'])
+extra_compile_args.append(compiler_flag("Dversion_info=%s" % metadata['version_info']))
+extra_compile_args.append(compiler_flag("D__version__=%s" % metadata['version']))
 
 rel = open("MySQLdb/release.py",'w')
 rel.write("""