diff -Nur mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/client/mysql_priv.h mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/client/mysql_priv.h
--- mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/client/mysql_priv.h	2006-08-22 23:09:20.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/client/mysql_priv.h	2006-09-25 19:49:35.000000000 -0700
@@ -1189,6 +1189,7 @@
 extern ulong slow_launch_threads, slow_launch_time;
 extern ulong table_cache_size;
 extern ulong max_connections,max_connect_errors, connect_timeout;
+extern ulong reserved_connections;
 extern ulong slave_net_timeout, slave_trans_retries;
 extern uint max_user_connections;
 extern ulong what_to_log,flush_time;
diff -Nur mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/mysqld.cc mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/mysqld.cc
--- mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/mysqld.cc	2006-08-22 23:09:17.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/mysqld.cc	2006-09-25 19:51:18.000000000 -0700
@@ -417,6 +417,7 @@
   statements.
 */
 ulong prepared_stmt_count=0;
+ulong reserved_connections;
 ulong thread_id=1L,current_pid;
 ulong slow_launch_threads = 0, sync_binlog_period;
 ulong expire_logs_days = 0;
@@ -3850,7 +3851,9 @@
     net->return_errno=1;
 
   /* don't allow too many connections */
-  if (thread_count - delayed_insert_threads >= max_connections+1 || abort_loop)
+  if (thread_count - delayed_insert_threads >= 
+        (max_connections + reserved_connections)
+        || abort_loop)
   {
     DBUG_PRINT("error",("Too many connections"));
     close_connection(thd, ER_CON_COUNT_ERROR, 1);
@@ -4583,6 +4586,7 @@
   OPT_QUERY_CACHE_TYPE, OPT_QUERY_CACHE_WLOCK_INVALIDATE, OPT_RECORD_BUFFER,
   OPT_RECORD_RND_BUFFER, OPT_DIV_PRECINCREMENT, OPT_RELAY_LOG_SPACE_LIMIT,
   OPT_RELAY_LOG_PURGE,
+  OPT_RESERVED_CONNECTIONS,
   OPT_SLAVE_NET_TIMEOUT, OPT_SLAVE_COMPRESSED_PROTOCOL, OPT_SLOW_LAUNCH_TIME,
   OPT_SLAVE_TRANS_RETRIES, OPT_READONLY, OPT_DEBUGGING,
   OPT_SORT_BUFFER, OPT_TABLE_CACHE,
@@ -5903,6 +5907,11 @@
    (gptr*) &relay_log_space_limit,
    (gptr*) &relay_log_space_limit, 0, GET_ULL, REQUIRED_ARG, 0L, 0L,
    (longlong) ULONG_MAX, 0, 1, 0},
+  {"reserved_connections", OPT_RESERVED_CONNECTIONS,
+   "The number of connections to reserved for SUPER users.",
+   (gptr*) &reserved_connections,
+   (gptr*) &reserved_connections, 0, GET_ULONG, REQUIRED_ARG, 1, 1, 32, 0, 1,
+   0},
   {"slave_compressed_protocol", OPT_SLAVE_COMPRESSED_PROTOCOL,
    "Use compression on master/slave protocol.",
    (gptr*) &opt_slave_compressed_protocol,
diff -Nur mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/mysql_priv.h mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/mysql_priv.h
--- mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/mysql_priv.h	2006-08-22 23:09:20.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/mysql_priv.h	2006-09-25 19:49:35.000000000 -0700
@@ -1189,6 +1189,7 @@
 extern ulong slow_launch_threads, slow_launch_time;
 extern ulong table_cache_size;
 extern ulong max_connections,max_connect_errors, connect_timeout;
+extern ulong reserved_connections;
 extern ulong slave_net_timeout, slave_trans_retries;
 extern uint max_user_connections;
 extern ulong what_to_log,flush_time;
diff -Nur mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/set_var.cc mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/set_var.cc
--- mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/set_var.cc	2006-08-22 23:09:19.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/set_var.cc	2006-09-25 19:52:25.000000000 -0700
@@ -324,6 +324,9 @@
 sys_var_bool_ptr	sys_relay_log_purge("relay_log_purge",
                                             &relay_log_purge);
 #endif
+sys_var_long_ptr	sys_reserved_connections("reserved_connections",
+                                           &reserved_connections,
+                                           fix_max_connections);
 sys_var_long_ptr	sys_rpl_recovery_rank("rpl_recovery_rank",
 					      &rpl_recovery_rank);
 sys_var_long_ptr	sys_query_cache_size("query_cache_size",
@@ -722,6 +725,7 @@
 #ifdef HAVE_REPLICATION
   &sys_relay_log_purge,
 #endif
+  &sys_reserved_connections,
   &sys_rpl_recovery_rank,
   &sys_safe_updates,
   &sys_secure_auth,
@@ -1031,6 +1035,8 @@
   {sys_relay_log_purge.name,  (char*) &sys_relay_log_purge,         SHOW_SYS},
   {"relay_log_space_limit",  (char*) &relay_log_space_limit,        SHOW_LONGLONG},
 #endif
+  {sys_reserved_connections.name,  (char*) &sys_reserved_connections,
+   SHOW_SYS},
   {sys_rpl_recovery_rank.name,(char*) &sys_rpl_recovery_rank,       SHOW_SYS},
   {"secure_auth",             (char*) &sys_secure_auth,             SHOW_SYS},
 #ifdef HAVE_SMEM
@@ -1387,8 +1393,8 @@
 static void fix_max_connections(THD *thd, enum_var_type type)
 {
 #ifndef EMBEDDED_LIBRARY
-  resize_thr_alarm(max_connections +
-		   global_system_variables.max_insert_delayed_threads + 10);
+  resize_thr_alarm(10 + max_connections + reserved_connections +
+		   global_system_variables.max_insert_delayed_threads);
 #endif
 }
 
diff -Nur mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/set_var.h mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/set_var.h
--- mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.orig/sql/set_var.h	2006-08-22 23:09:18.000000000 -0700
+++ mysql-5.0.25-nightly-20060823.reserved_connections/sql/set_var.h	2006-09-25 19:49:35.000000000 -0700
@@ -833,6 +833,14 @@
   virtual void set_default(THD *thd, enum_var_type type);
 };
 
+class sys_var_reserved_connections :public sys_var_long_ptr
+{
+public:
+  sys_var_reserved_connections(const char *name_arg, ulong *value_ptr)
+    :sys_var_long_ptr(name_arg, value_ptr) {}
+};
+
+
 /****************************************************************************
   Classes for parsing of the SET command
 ****************************************************************************/