enum data type vs table

Hi,

Are there any guidelines for deciding whether to 1) create an enum data
type or 2) create a table with the set of values and then have foreign
keys referencing this table?  Some fields in a database take a small
number of values, and I'm not sure which of these routes to take.  The
enum data type seems like a clean way to handle this without creating a
constellation of tables for all these values, but if one wants to add a
new label to the enum or make changes to it at some point, then the
tables using it have to be recreated, so it's quite rigid.  Have I got
this right?  Thanks.


-- 
Seb