help w/ a little naive brainstorming ...

hi all,

i've two random, not-completely-disjointed questions that have arisen in a
recent, off-the-cuff discussion.

any/all initial pointers/comments would be much appreciated ... while i slog
through Google, etc. trying to learn more ...

(1) does pgsql have/plan an equivalent of Oracle's External Tables?
<http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/oracle9i/daily/sept19.html>

searching on 'postgresql "external tables"' i'm unclear as to whether we're
talking abt the "same fruit" here (apples & apples, ya know?).

(2) most (no, not all) email servers store message data as flat-file text,
organized in some admin-spec'd file-system directory hierarchy.

if i were to consider 'storing' those messages trees, instead, in a pgsql db, i
i mmediately/naively think of three possible options

(a) simple DB-stored references to flat file:/// locations
(b) pointers to external, actionable (parseable? writeable?) files in the FS
(c) messages stored, in their entirety as CLOBS and/or BLOBS in the DB
(d) messages converted into, say, XML, and stored in the DB
(e) message components parsed into individual fields, and stored as addressable
character and 'bytea' (a new one on me ...) data in pgsql tables

any thoughts/comments as to 'best approach' and why?

no, not at all well thought thru -- just brainstormin' .... so, flame away! ;-)

and, thanks =)

richard