diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3898579..ee9e604 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ extras = {
         #
         # package                       # low                   high
 
+        # TODO: this also is an experiment.  see notes above in 'app' extra.
+        # am still getting segfaults with 8.0.23 so this seems necessary
+        'mysql-connector-python==8.0.17',
         'pyCOREPOS',                    # 0.1.0
         'rattail-corepos',              # 0.1.0
         'tailbone-corepos',             # 0.1.1