True, however xml files are easily generated by other files.
If vB had a plug-in pluginer that read the contents of an xml file, installed phrases and templates (even better if it would run queries too - however I could understand reluctance toward that) then a mack could easily be created that would allow you to store your mack in development in tables, and export the mack as an xml file to be read by the vB plugin pluginer.
hmm. Just think I lost myself there