title: Querying a MySQL database with Python without installing MySQL
body: <p>I'd like to query a MySQL database using Python, but evidently the MySQLdb package requires a huge toolchain of MySQL stuff to be separately installed.</p>
  
  <p>How can I query a MySQL database using a Python script without installing a bunch of unnecessary MySQL stuff, including conferring MySQL server capability on the client machine?</p>
  
  <p>I don't love Perl, but it appears that the DBI package allows a Perl script to interface with MySQL without any MySQL stuff external to the package. I'm looking for something similar for Python.</p>