vBulletin Product Manager - Install Hacks via Admin CP
 

Refer to KirbyDE's great How-To here:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=92953

With Products, you can manage Plugins, Phrases, Settings and Templates in just one XML File. It also supports Install/Uninstall Codes (for running queries, etc.), it also covers updating existing Hacks as you can add Codes for different Version. PLUS you can rebuild the Bitfield cache.

So if your hack is a plugin, you can release it in a single XML file as a Product.

In fact, you can export your current hacks as Products to be imported by others! :D

Quite cool. I encourage hack authors to start using this system from now on.

Is there any official statement on product ids? Is "username_hackname", the best possible method?

The official statements made on this are only that you can not start it with 'vb' (reserved for Jelsoft) and at this time limitd to 15 characters.

Okay, thanks Marco. :)

I have decided to use paulm_yyyymmdd where yyyymmdd is the date I first create the hack, since it's most unlikely I will create two on the same day (and if I do, I'll just change one by a day ;)) But each to their own I suppose. As long as they are unique I don't think it matters.