Index: driver/utility.c
===================================================================
--- driver/utility.c	(revision 221)
+++ driver/utility.c	(working copy)
@@ -550,35 +550,40 @@
             return SQL_CHAR;
 
         case FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING:
-            
-            if(field->table && field->org_table && field->table[0] && field->org_table[0])
+            /*
+              If we have both the table name and the original table name, we
+              can trust the length information in the field. Unless there
+              isn't any, then we assume a length of 255 characters.
+             */
+            if (field->table && field->org_table &&
+                field->table[0] && field->org_table[0])
             {
-                *transfer_length= *precision= *display_size= field->length ? 
-                (stmt->dbc->mysql.charset ? 
-                field->length/stmt->dbc->mysql.charset->mbmaxlen: field->length): 255;
-
-                /* Binary flag is for handling "VARCHAR() BINARY" but is unreliable (see BUG-4578) - PAH */
-                if (field_is_binary)
-                {
-                    if (buff) strmov(buff,"varbinary");
-                        return SQL_VARBINARY;
-                }
-                if ( buff ) strmov(buff,"varchar");
-                    return SQL_VARCHAR;
+              *transfer_length= *precision= *display_size= field->length ?
+                (stmt->dbc->mysql.charset ?
+                 field->length / stmt->dbc->mysql.charset->mbmaxlen :
+                 field->length) : 255;
             }
-            else
+            /*
+              Otherwise, if it is not already set, we set it to
+              the size of a MEDIUMTEXT/BLOB.
+             */
+            else if (!(*transfer_length) && !(*precision) && !(*display_size))
             {
-                *transfer_length= *precision= *display_size= 16777216L;
-                if (field_is_binary)
-                {
-                    if (buff) strmov(buff,"varbinary");
-                    return SQL_LONGVARBINARY;
-                }
+              *transfer_length= *precision= *display_size= 16777216L;
+            }
 
-                if ( buff ) strmov(buff,"varchar");
-                    return SQL_LONGVARCHAR;
+            if (field_is_binary)
+            {
+                if (buff)
+                  strmov(buff,"varbinary");
+                return SQL_VARBINARY;
             }
 
+            if (buff)
+              strmov(buff,"varchar");
+
+            return SQL_VARCHAR;
+
         case FIELD_TYPE_TINY_BLOB:
             if ( buff )
                 strmov(buff,(field_is_binary) ? "tinyblob" : "tinytext");