diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 7a1c103..df610fe 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ end
 Spec::Rake::SpecTask.new('spec') do |t|
   t.spec_files = FileList['spec/']
   t.spec_opts << '--options' << 'spec/spec.opts'
+  t.verbose = true
+  t.warning = true
 end
 
 task :default => :spec
diff --git a/ext/mysql2/client.c b/ext/mysql2/client.c
index f4a43f9..d779205 100644
--- a/ext/mysql2/client.c
+++ b/ext/mysql2/client.c
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ static VALUE allocate(VALUE klass) {
   return obj;
 }
 
-static VALUE rb_connect(VALUE self, VALUE user, VALUE pass, VALUE host, VALUE port, VALUE database, VALUE socket) {
+static VALUE rb_connect(VALUE self, VALUE user, VALUE pass, VALUE host, VALUE port, VALUE database, VALUE socket, VALUE flags) {
   struct nogvl_connect_args args;
   GET_CLIENT(self)
 
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ static VALUE rb_connect(VALUE self, VALUE user, VALUE pass, VALUE host, VALUE po
   args.passwd = NIL_P(pass) ? NULL : StringValuePtr(pass);
   args.db = NIL_P(database) ? NULL : StringValuePtr(database);
   args.mysql = client;
-  args.client_flag = 0;
+  args.client_flag = NUM2INT(flags);
 
   if (rb_thread_blocking_region(nogvl_connect, &args, RUBY_UBF_IO, 0) == Qfalse) {
     // unable to connect
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ void init_mysql2_client() {
   rb_define_private_method(cMysql2Client, "charset_name=", set_charset_name, 1);
   rb_define_private_method(cMysql2Client, "ssl_set", set_ssl_options, 5);
   rb_define_private_method(cMysql2Client, "init_connection", init_connection, 0);
-  rb_define_private_method(cMysql2Client, "connect", rb_connect, 6);
+  rb_define_private_method(cMysql2Client, "connect", rb_connect, 7);
 
   intern_encoding_from_charset = rb_intern("encoding_from_charset");
 
@@ -538,4 +538,4 @@ void init_mysql2_client() {
   intern_error_number_eql = rb_intern("error_number=");
   intern_sql_state_eql = rb_intern("sql_state=");
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/lib/mysql2/client.rb b/lib/mysql2/client.rb
index 81d08bc..3cd3aa8 100644
--- a/lib/mysql2/client.rb
+++ b/lib/mysql2/client.rb
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@ module Mysql2
       port     = opts[:port] || 3306
       database = opts[:database]
       socket   = opts[:socket]
+      flags    = 0
 
-      connect user, pass, host, port, database, socket
+      connect user, pass, host, port, database, socket, flags
     end
 
     def self.default_query_options
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 49c3b78..39da1e4 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # encoding: UTF-8
-$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/..')
-$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../lib')
 
+require 'rubygems'
 require 'mysql2'
 require 'timeout'
 
@@ -64,4 +63,4 @@ Spec::Runner.configure do |config|
       )
     ]
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end