diff --git a/MySQLdb/MySQLdb/connections.py b/MySQLdb/MySQLdb/connections.py
index b0336c3..55556ab 100644
--- a/MySQLdb/MySQLdb/connections.py
+++ b/MySQLdb/MySQLdb/connections.py
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ class Connection(_mysql.connection):
           (mysql_ssl_set()).  If this is set, and the client does not
           support SSL, UnsupportedError will be raised.
 
+        local_infile
+          integer, non-zero enables LOAD LOCAL INFILE; zero disables
+    
         There are a number of undocumented, non-standard methods. See the
         documentation for the MySQL C API for some hints on what they do.
 
@@ -162,7 +165,8 @@ class Connection(_mysql.connection):
         If o is a non-string sequence, the items of the sequence are
         converted and returned as a sequence.
 
-        Non-standard.
+        Non-standard. For internal use; do not use this in your
+        applications.
 
         """
         return self.escape(o, self.converter)
@@ -174,7 +178,8 @@ class Connection(_mysql.connection):
         character set as the encoding. If that's not available,
         latin1 is used.
 
-        Non-standard.
+        Non-standard. For internal use; do not use this in your
+        applications.
 
         """
         return self.literal(u.encode(self.charset))
diff --git a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
index 51882e2..033cdfd 100644
--- a/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
+++ b/MySQLdb/_mysql.c
@@ -440,9 +440,10 @@ _mysql_ConnectionObject_Initialize(
 				  "named_pipe", "init_command",
 				  "read_default_file", "read_default_group",
 				  "client_flag", "ssl",
+				  "local_infile",
 				  NULL } ;
 	int connect_timeout = 0;
-	int compress = -1, named_pipe = -1;
+	int compress = -1, named_pipe = -1, local_infile = -1;
 	char *init_command=NULL,
 	     *read_default_file=NULL,
 	     *read_default_group=NULL;
@@ -450,7 +451,7 @@ _mysql_ConnectionObject_Initialize(
 	self->converter = NULL;
 	self->open = 0;
 	check_server_init(-1);
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwargs, "|ssssisOiiisssiO:connect",
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwargs, "|ssssisOiiisssiOi:connect",
 					 kwlist,
 					 &host, &user, &passwd, &db,
 					 &port, &unix_socket, &conv,
@@ -458,7 +459,9 @@ _mysql_ConnectionObject_Initialize(
 					 &compress, &named_pipe,
 					 &init_command, &read_default_file,
 					 &read_default_group,
-					 &client_flag, &ssl))
+					 &client_flag, &ssl,
+					 &local_infile
+					 ))
 		return -1;
 
 	if (!conv) 
@@ -510,6 +513,9 @@ _mysql_ConnectionObject_Initialize(
 	if (read_default_group != NULL)
 		mysql_options(&(self->connection), MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP, read_default_group);
 
+	if (local_infile != -1)
+		mysql_options(&(self->connection), MYSQL_OPT_LOCAL_INFILE, (char *) &local_infile);
+
 #if HAVE_OPENSSL
 	if (ssl)
 		mysql_ssl_set(&(self->connection),
@@ -580,6 +586,13 @@ read_default_file\n\
 \n\
 read_default_group\n\
   see the MySQL documentation for mysql_options()\n\
+\n\
+client_flag\n\
+  client flags from MySQLdb.constants.CLIENT\n\
+\n\
+load_infile\n\
+  int, non-zero enables LOAD LOCAL INFILE, zero disables\n\
+\n\
 ";
 
 static PyObject *