Index: wp-includes/wp-db.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/wp-db.php	(revision 10904)
+++ wp-includes/wp-db.php	(working copy)
@@ -255,6 +255,20 @@
 			'postmeta', 'terms', 'term_taxonomy', 'term_relationships');
 
 	/**
+	 * Format specifiers for DB columns. Columns not listed here default to %s.  Initialized in wp-settings.php.
+	 *
+	 * Keys are colmn names, values are format types: 'ID' => '%d'
+	 *
+	 * @since 2.8.0
+	 * @see wpdb:prepare()
+	 * @see wpdb:insert()
+	 * @see wpdb:update()
+	 * @access public
+	 * @war array
+	 */
+	var $field_type = array();
+
+	/**
 	 * Database table columns charset
 	 *
 	 * @since 2.2.0
@@ -703,16 +717,14 @@
 	 * @return mixed Results of $this->query()
 	 */
 	function insert($table, $data, $format = null) {
-		global $db_field_types;
-
 		$formats = $format = (array) $format;
 		$fields = array_keys($data);
 		$formatted_fields = array();
 		foreach ( $fields as $field ) {
 			if ( !empty($format) )
 				$form = ( $form = array_shift($formats) ) ? $form : $format[0];
-			elseif ( isset($db_field_types[$field]) )
-				$form = $db_field_types[$field];
+			elseif ( isset($this->field_types[$field]) )
+				$form = $this->field_types[$field];
 			else
 				$form = '%s';
 			$formatted_fields[] = $form;
@@ -734,8 +746,6 @@
 	 * @return mixed Results of $this->query()
 	 */
 	function update($table, $data, $where, $format = null, $where_format = null) {
-		global $db_field_types;
-
 		if ( !is_array( $where ) )
 			return false;
 
@@ -744,8 +754,8 @@
 		foreach ( (array) array_keys($data) as $field ) {
 			if ( !empty($format) )
 				$form = ( $form = array_shift($formats) ) ? $form : $format[0];
-			elseif ( isset($db_field_types[$field]) )
-				$form = $db_field_types[$field];
+			elseif ( isset($this->field_types[$field]) )
+				$form = $this->field_types[$field];
 			else
 				$form = '%s';
 			$bits[] = "`$field` = {$form}";
@@ -755,8 +765,8 @@
 		foreach ( (array) array_keys($where) as $field ) {
 			if ( !empty($where_format) )
 				$form = ( $form = array_shift($where_formats) ) ? $form : $where_format[0];
-			elseif ( isset($db_field_types[$field]) )
-				$form = $db_field_types[$field];
+			elseif ( isset($this->field_types[$field]) )
+				$form = $this->field_types[$field];
 			else
 				$form = '%s';
 			$wheres[] = "$field = {$form}";
Index: wp-settings.php
===================================================================
--- wp-settings.php	(revision 10904)
+++ wp-settings.php	(working copy)
@@ -247,20 +247,24 @@
 require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/functions.php');
 require (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/classes.php');
 
+require_wp_db();
+
+if ( !empty($wpdb->error) )
+	dead_db();
+
 /**
  * Format specifiers for DB columns. Columns not listed here default to %s.
  * @since 2.8.0
+ * @see wpdb:$field_types
+ * @see wpdb:prepare()
+ * @see wpdb:insert()
+ * @see wpdb:update()
  */
-$db_field_types = array( 'post_author' => '%d', 'post_parent' => '%d', 'menu_order' => '%d', 'term_id' => '%d', 'term_group' => '%d', 'term_taxonomy_id' => '%d',
+$wpdb->field_types = array( 'post_author' => '%d', 'post_parent' => '%d', 'menu_order' => '%d', 'term_id' => '%d', 'term_group' => '%d', 'term_taxonomy_id' => '%d',
 	'parent' => '%d', 'count' => '%d','object_id' => '%d', 'term_order' => '%d', 'ID' => '%d', 'commment_ID' => '%d', 'comment_post_ID' => '%d', 'comment_parent' => '%d',
 	'user_id' => '%d', 'link_id' => '%d', 'link_owner' => '%d', 'link_rating' => '%d', 'option_id' => '%d', 'blog_id' => '%d', 'meta_id' => '%d', 'post_id' => '%d',
 	'user_status' => '%d', 'umeta_id' => '%d', 'comment_karma' => '%d', 'comment_count' => '%d');
 
-require_wp_db();
-
-if ( !empty($wpdb->error) )
-	dead_db();
-
 $prefix = $wpdb->set_prefix($table_prefix);
 
 if ( is_wp_error($prefix) )