diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportJob.java b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportJob.java
index ea2b064e..13f3b6d1 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportJob.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportJob.java
@@ -79,16 +79,46 @@ protected void configureMapper(Job job, String tableName,
     job.setMapOutputKeyClass(NullWritable.class);
     job.setMapOutputValueClass(NullWritable.class);
   }
+/* list of chars that cannot be passed via jobconf */
+  final static String badXmlString = "\u0000\u0001\u0002\u0003\u0004\u0005" +
+    "\u0006\u0007\u0008\u000B\u000C\u000E\u000F\u0010\u0011\u0012" +
+    "\u0013\u0014\u0015\u0016\u0017\u0018\u0019\u001A\u001B\u001C" +
+    "\u001D\u001E\u001F\uFFFE\uFFFF";
+
+/* true if the char is ok to pass via Configuration */
+  public static boolean validXml(char s){
+    return (badXmlString.indexOf(s)<0);
+  }
+
 
   protected void propagateOptionsToJob(Job job) {
     super.propagateOptionsToJob(job);
     SqoopOptions opts = context.getOptions();
     Configuration conf = job.getConfiguration();
-    if (opts.getNullStringValue() != null) {
-      conf.set("postgresql.null.string", opts.getNullStringValue());
+
+    /* empty string needs to be passed as a flag */
+    if (opts.getNullStringValue().equals("")) {
+       conf.set("postgresql.null.emptystring","true");
     }
-    setDelimiter("postgresql.input.field.delim",
-                 opts.getInputFieldDelim(), conf);
+
+    /* valid delimiters may not be valid xml chars, so the hadoop conf will fail.
+     * but we still want to support them so we base64 encode it in that case
+     * */
+    char  delim= opts.getInputFieldDelim();
+    String delimString=Character.toString(delim);
+    if(validXml(delim)){ 
+      setDelimiter("postgresql.input.field.delim",delim,conf);
+    }else{
+      conf.set("postgresql.input.field.delim.base64",
+          java.util.Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(delimString.getBytes()));
+    }
+
+   /* use the --batch switch to enable line buffering */
+   if (opts.isBatchMode()){
+       conf.set("postgresql.export.batchmode","true");
+   }
+
+/* todo: there may still be some case where user wants an invalid xml char for record delim */
     setDelimiter("postgresql.input.record.delim",
                  opts.getInputRecordDelim(), conf);
     setDelimiter("postgresql.input.enclosedby",
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper.java b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper.java
index cf9a3cd1..82e26b53 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/mapreduce/postgresql/PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import org.postgresql.PGConnection;
 import org.postgresql.copy.CopyManager;
 import org.postgresql.copy.CopyIn;
+import org.apache.sqoop.util.LineBuffer;
 
 
 /**
@@ -52,6 +53,10 @@ public class PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper
   public static final Log LOG =
     LogFactory.getLog(PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper.class.getName());
 
+  private boolean bufferMode=false;          /* whether or not to use the line buffer     */
+  private LineBuffer lineBuffer;             /* batch up the lines before sending to copy */
+  private boolean isRaw=false;               /* if isRaw then we won't interprete escapes */
+
   private Configuration conf;
   private DBConfiguration dbConf;
   private Connection conn = null;
@@ -63,6 +68,17 @@ public class PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper
 
   public PostgreSQLCopyExportMapper() {
   }
+  /* Text mode normally interprets escape sequences. Optionally
+   * turn that off by escaping the escapes
+   * */
+  public String fixEscapes(String s){
+    if (isRaw){
+      return s.replace("\\","\\\\");
+    } else {
+      return s;
+    }
+  }
+
 
   @Override
   protected void setup(Context context)
@@ -71,6 +87,7 @@ protected void setup(Context context)
     super.setup(context);
     conf = context.getConfiguration();
     dbConf = new DBConfiguration(conf);
+    lineBuffer=new LineBuffer();
     CopyManager cm = null;
     try {
       conn = dbConf.getConnection();
@@ -83,69 +100,141 @@ protected void setup(Context context)
       throw new IOException(ex);
     }
     try {
-      StringBuilder sql = new StringBuilder();
-      sql.append("COPY ");
-      sql.append(dbConf.getOutputTableName());
-      sql.append(" FROM STDIN WITH (");
-      sql.append(" ENCODING 'UTF-8' ");
-      sql.append(", FORMAT csv ");
-      sql.append(", DELIMITER ");
-      sql.append("'");
-      sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.field.delim", ","));
-      sql.append("'");
-      sql.append(", QUOTE ");
-      sql.append("'");
-      sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.enclosedby", "\""));
-      sql.append("'");
-      sql.append(", ESCAPE ");
-      sql.append("'");
-      sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.escapedby", "\""));
-      sql.append("'");
-      if (conf.get("postgresql.null.string") != null) {
-        sql.append(", NULL ");
-        sql.append("'");
-        sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.null.string"));
-        sql.append("'");
-      }
-      sql.append(")");
+     /* Set if buffering mode is requested */
+     this.bufferMode=("true".equals(conf.get("postgresql.export.batchmode")));
+
+     /* isRaw means escapes are NOT to be interpreted */
+     this.isRaw=("true".equals(conf.get("postgresql.input.israw")));
+
+     /* add support for delims which are not valid xml. We have base64 encoded them */
+     String delimBase64=conf.get("postgresql.input.field.delim.base64");
+     String delim=null;
+     if (delimBase64!=null){
+       delim=new String(java.util.Base64.getDecoder().decode(delimBase64));
+     } else {
+     delim=conf.get("postgresql.input.field.delim",",");
+     }
+
+     /* Some postgres instances out there still using version 8.x */
+     StringBuilder sql = new StringBuilder();
+     String ver=conf.get("postgresql.targetdb.ver", "9");
+     if (ver.equals("8")){
+       sql.append("COPY ");
+       sql.append(dbConf.getOutputTableName());
+       sql.append(" FROM STDIN WITH ");
+       sql.append("  DELIMITER ");
+       sql.append("'");
+       sql.append(delim);
+       sql.append("'");
+       if (! "true".equals(conf.get("postgresql.format.text"))){
+         sql.append("  CSV ");
+         sql.append(" QUOTE ");
+         sql.append("'");
+         sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.enclosedby", "\""));
+         sql.append("'");
+         sql.append(" ESCAPE ");
+         sql.append("'");
+         sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.escapedby", "\""));
+         sql.append("'");
+       }
+       /* Hadoop config does not permit empty string so we use special switch to designate that */
+       if (conf.get("postgresql.null.emptystring")!=null){
+         sql.append(" NULL ''");
+       }else
+       if (conf.get("postgresql.null.string") != null) {
+         sql.append(" NULL ");
+         sql.append("'");
+         sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.null.string"));
+         sql.append("'");
+       }
+     } else { /* intended for version 9.x This has not been fixed for buffering */
+       sql.append("COPY ");
+       sql.append(dbConf.getOutputTableName());
+       sql.append(" FROM STDIN WITH (");
+       sql.append(" ENCODING 'UTF-8' ");
+       sql.append(", FORMAT csv ");
+       sql.append(", DELIMITER ");
+       sql.append("'");
+       sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.field.delim", ","));
+       sql.append("'");
+       sql.append(", QUOTE ");
+       sql.append("'");
+       sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.enclosedby", "\""));
+       sql.append("'");
+       sql.append(", ESCAPE ");
+       sql.append("'");
+       sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.input.escapedby", "\""));
+       sql.append("'");
+       if (conf.get("postgresql.null.string") != null) {
+         sql.append(", NULL ");
+         sql.append("'");
+         sql.append(conf.get("postgresql.null.string"));
+         sql.append("'");
+       }
+       sql.append(")");
+     }
       LOG.debug("Starting export with copy: " + sql);
       copyin = cm.copyIn(sql.toString());
-    } catch (SQLException ex) {
-      LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to get CopyIn", ex);
-      close();
-      throw new IOException(ex);
-    }
+   } catch (SQLException ex) {
+     LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to get CopyIn", ex);
+     close();
+     throw new IOException(ex);
+   }
   }
 
   @Override
   public void map(LongWritable key, Writable value, Context context)
     throws IOException, InterruptedException {
-    line.setLength(0);
-    line.append(value.toString());
-    if (value instanceof Text) {
-      line.append(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
-    }
-    try {
-      byte[]data = line.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");
-      copyin.writeToCopy(data, 0, data.length);
-    } catch (SQLException ex) {
-      LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to execute copy", ex);
-      close();
-      throw new IOException(ex);
-    }
+      if (bufferMode){
+        if (lineBuffer.append(fixEscapes(value.toString()))){
+          return;
+        }
+        /* else buffer is full lets write out */
+        try {
+          byte[]data=lineBuffer.getBytes();
+         copyin.writeToCopy(data,0,data.length);
+         lineBuffer.clear();
+        } catch (SQLException ex) {
+          LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to execute copy", ex);
+          close();
+          throw new IOException(ex);
+        }
+
+        /* now write the new line that could not be appended because the buffer was full */
+        lineBuffer.append(fixEscapes(value.toString()));
+      } else { /* original unbuffered method */
+          line.setLength(0);
+          line.append(value.toString());
+          if (value instanceof Text) {
+            line.append(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
+          }
+          try {
+            byte[]data = line.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");
+            copyin.writeToCopy(data, 0, data.length);
+          } catch (SQLException ex) {
+            LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to execute copy", ex);
+            close();
+            throw new IOException(ex);
+          }
+      }
   }
 
   @Override
   protected void cleanup(Context context)
     throws IOException, InterruptedException {
-    try {
-      copyin.endCopy();
-    } catch (SQLException ex) {
-      LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to finalize copy", ex);
-      throw new IOException(ex);
+      try { /* write out the final fragment in the buffer */
+        if (bufferMode){
+          byte[]data=lineBuffer.getBytes();
+            copyin.writeToCopy(data,0,data.length);
+            lineBuffer.clear();
+        }
+        copyin.endCopy();
+      } catch (SQLException ex) {
+        LoggingUtils.logAll(LOG, "Unable to finalize copy", ex);
+        throw new IOException(ex);
+      }
+      close();
     }
-    close();
-  }
 
   void close() throws IOException {
     if (conn != null) {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/util/LineBuffer.java b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/util/LineBuffer.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..474ac552
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/util/LineBuffer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package org.apache.sqoop.util;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
+/* Buffer up lines of text until buffer is full. 
+ * This helper class is just to support a test to 
+ * see if the copyIn mapper for postgres is unbuffered
+ *
+ * */
+public class LineBuffer{
+    public static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(LineBuffer.class.getName());
+
+    private StringBuilder sb=new StringBuilder();
+    private static int MAXLEN=100000000;
+    //private static int MAXLEN=50000000;
+
+    public void clear(){ sb.setLength(0); }
+    public int length(){return sb.length();}
+    public boolean append(String s){
+//	LOG.debug(s);
+	if (sb.length()+s.length()+1>MAXLEN){return false;}
+	sb.append(s);
+	sb.append("\n");
+	return true;	
+    }
+    public String toString(){return sb.toString();}
+    public byte[] getBytes() {
+	try {
+	//LOG.debug("returning "+new String(sb.toString().getBytes("UTF-8")));
+	return sb.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");
+	}catch(Exception e){e.printStackTrace();return null;}
+    }
+}