Re: Anyone see a need for BTItem/HashItem?

David Fetter <david@fetter.org> writes:
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2006 at 04:02:07PM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
>> David Fetter <david@fetter.org> writes:
>>> If you cut it out, what will the "heap" and "index" access methods
>>> needed for SQL/MED use?
>> 
>> What's that have to do with this?

> I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm mistaken, but this is a candidate
> for the spot where such interfaces--think of Informix's Virtual
> (Table|Index) Interface--would go.

Can't imagine putting anything related to external-database access
inside either the btree or hash AMs; it'd only make sense to handle
it at higher levels.  It's barely conceivable that external access
would make sense as a specialized AM in its own right, but I don't
see managing external links exclusively within the indexes.

IOW, if we did need extra stuff in IndexTuples for external access,
we'd want to put it inside IndexTuple, not in a place where it could
only be seen by these AMs.
        regards, tom lane