[Mediawiki-l] Extension manager

[Platonides]

Michael B Allen wrote:
> To be able to upload a package file, the web server needs write access
> to the extensions directory. This is fatally flawed because anyone who
> can run a web script can now overwrite your auth plugin with their own
> hacked version of it.
> 
> So whatever you do, just make sure you can always do it the old-fashioned
> way - putting the file to the extensions dir and adding two lines to
> LocalSettings.php.
> 
> Mike

Trying to make an Extension to add the extensions is a bit like pushing 
the line.
I'd make it a separate app. Either a php script *to run from the shell* 
or a complete GUI app intended to be run on the user local system.

The user would only need to have a local copy of the web files, point 
the script to that folder to update, and then synchronise this folder 
with the server directory.

It can also check for some common errors, like the BOM on LocalSettings.