Steve,
> In some ways something like Berkeley DB might be a better match to the
> frontend, but I'm comfortable with PostgreSQL and prefer to have the
> power of SQL commandline for when I need it.
Well, if data corruption is not a concern, you can always turn off
checkpointing. This will save you a fair amount of overhead.
You could also look at telegraphCQ. It's not prodcucton yet, but their idea
of "streams" as data sources really seems to fit with what you're talking
about.
--
--Josh
Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco