We now call them all as just 'plugins' for consistency. There where we need to
explicitly distinguish the source of the plugin, we say they are 'additional
plugins' on contrary to 'standards plugins' coming with the core.
There is a new hook in the index.php file. If valid HTTP parameter
installaddonrequest is detected, the installer asks the administrator to
confirm the request.
If confirmed, the installer calls download.moodle.org/api/1.2/pluginfo.php
service to get information about the given plugin version. The essential
data are the URL of the ZIP to download and the MD5 hash of the ZIP.
These data must be fetched via HTTPS to protect against MiM attack.
If the ZIP is downloaded and the MD5 content hash is correct, the user
is redirected to the previously implemented ZIP validation page, as if
the ZIP was uploaded manually.
The valid format of the installaddonrequest is documented via the
test_decode_remote_request() unit test method.
David Mudrák