I don’t like the automated plugin installer. I don’t know why, I just don’t. I have this stupid simple script I use instead. I cleaned it up before posting here. It’s a lot more complicated than my WordPress Upgrade Script because it has to check for the latest release of the plugin via the subversion repository and clean up weird characters (because people write code on Windows, Linux and Mac and everything else!). This is one of the few times I assume that if you don’t specify a version, you probably want the latest and greatest.

#!/bin/bash

####################################################################
# WORDPRESS-PLUGIN.SH - WordPress Plugin Script for BASH SHELL     #
#                                                                  #
# This script will download and copy up the specified WordPress    #
# plugin to the account. By default it gets the latest version,    #
# but you CAN specify trunk or whatever version you want.          #
#                                                                  #
# Author: Mika Epstein                                             #
# URL: http://halfelf.org/scripts/wordpress-plugin-script/    #
#                                                                  #
# Usage: ./wordpress-plugin.sh plugin [version]                    #
#                                                                  #
# plugin  == the 'ugly' name of the plugin (i.e. wp-super-cache)   #
# version == the FULL version number (i.e. 0.1.2)                  #
#                                                                  #
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or    #
# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as   #
# published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of   #
# the License, or (at your option) any later version.              #
#                                                                  #
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,  #
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of   #
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the    #
# GNU General Public License for more details.                     #
#                                                                  #
####################################################################

if [ "$1" = "" ]
then
  echo "EXIT: FAILURE! You didn't specify a plugin name.  Kinda need that."
  echo "Syntax is ./wordpress-plugin.sh plugin [version] "
  exit
fi

if [ "$2" = "" ]
then
  # We're getting the readme from the repo and using that to calculate the latest stable release.
  wget -qO $1-readme.txt http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/$1/trunk/readme.txt

  if ! [ -f $1-readme.txt ]
  then
    echo "FAILURE: The plugin is goobered in the WordPress repository, so we can't determine the latest stable release."
	exit 1
  else
    tr -cd '\11\12\40-\176' < $1-readme.txt > $1-readme-tr.txt
    VERSION=.`awk '/Stable/ {print $3}' $1-readme-tr.txt`
    rm $1-readme.txt $1-readme-tr.txt
  fi

else
  # Quick check if someone wants the trunk build with a 'You sure?' 
  # double check.
  if [ "$2" = "trunk" ] # start trunk check
  then
    read -p "Are you sure you want to install the TRUNK version? (y/n) " -n 1
    if [[ ! $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]
    then
      echo
	  echo "You have opted NOT to install the trunk build of $1."
      exit 1
    else
      echo
      VERSION=
    fi
  else
    VERSION=.$2
  fi # end trunk check
fi

# Download the plugin
wget http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/$1$VERSION.zip

# If the file didn't download, then you probably got the URL wrong. Fail.
if ! [ -f $1$VERSION.zip ]
then
  echo "EXIT: FAILURE! Could not download $1$VERSION.zip - Did you get the version and plugin name right?"
  exit
else
  echo
  unzip -q $1$VERSION.zip
fi

# This is ONE LAST CHANCE. If you say anything other than yes, then it cleans up.
read -p "Last chance.  You sure you want to install the plugin $1 v$VERSION for $USER? (y/n) " -n 1
  if [[ ! $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]
  then
    rm -rf $1/
    rm $1$VERSION.zip
	echo
	echo "EXIT: You have chosen NOT to install WordPress $1 at this time."
	exit 1
  else
    echo
  fi

# This is a quick check to make the directory if it's not there.
# Change this if you want to install to a subfolder or whatever.
if ! [ -d public_html/wp-content/plugins/$1 ]
then
  mkdir public_html/wp-content/plugins/$1
fi

# Copy the files up to root public_html
# Again! Change this if you want to install to a subfolder or whatever.
cp -r $1/* public_html/wp-content/plugins/$1/

# Post install clean up with a 'I don't know what you did!' error.
if [ -f $1$VERSION.zip ]
then
  rm -rf $1/
  rm $1$VERSION.zip
  echo "SUCCESS! You've downloaded the plugin $1 (version $VERSION). Now go activate it!"
else
  echo "POSSIBLE FAILURE. Could not clean up the files, so there's a chance everything went pear shaped."
  echo "Please review your WordPress plugins and remember: Blame Nacin."
fi

exit