Index: channels/__init__.py
==================================================================
--- channels/__init__.py
+++ channels/__init__.py
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@
 # Only export plugin classes
 __all__ = [
     "GenericChannel", "ChannelPlugin", "use_rx",
     "entity_decode", "strip_tags", "nl", "unhtml", "to_int"
 ]
-#__path__.insert(0, "plugins")#conf.plugin_dir)
+__path__.insert(0, conf.dir + "/plugins")
 
 
 
 # generic channel module                            ---------------------------------------
 class GenericChannel(object):

Index: config.py
==================================================================
--- config.py
+++ config.py
@@ -367,8 +367,8 @@
 
 # tie in pluginconf.*
 pluginconf.log_WARN = log.WARN
 pluginconf.log_ERR = log.ERR
 pluginconf.module_base = "config"
-pluginconf.plugin_base = ["channels", "plugins", conf.share+"/channels", conf.dir+"/plugins"]
+pluginconf.plugin_base = ["channels", "plugins"]#, conf.share+"/channels", conf.dir+"/plugins"]
 
 

Index: pluginconf.py
==================================================================
--- pluginconf.py
+++ pluginconf.py
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 # api: python
 # type: handler
 # category: io
 # title: Plugin configuration
 # description: Read meta data, pyz/package contents, module locating
-# version: 0.5
+# version: 0.6
 # priority: core
 # doc: http://fossil.include-once.org/streamtuner2/wiki/plugin+meta+data
 # config: -
 #
 # Provides plugin lookup and meta data extraction utility functions.
@@ -59,11 +59,24 @@
 # ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
 #  Probes a new plugins` depends: list against installed base modules.
 #  Very crude and tied to streamtuner2 base names.
 #
 #
+# Generally this scheme concerns itself more with plugin basenames.
+# That is: module scripts in a package like `ext.plg1` and `ext.plg2`.
+# It can be initialized by injecting the plugin-package basename into
+# plugin_base = []. The associated paths will be used for module
+# lookup via pkgutil.iter_modules().
+#
+# And a central module can be extended with new lookup locations best
+# by attaching new locations itself via module.__path__ + ["./local"]
+# for example.
 #
+# Plugin loading thus becomes as simple as __import__("ext.local").
+# The attachaed plugin_state config dictionary in most cases can just
+# list module basenames, if there's only one set to manage.
+
 
 
 import sys
 import os
 import re
@@ -80,17 +93,16 @@
 
 # Injectables
 # ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
 log_ERR = lambda *x:None
 
-# File lookup relation for get_data(), should name a top-level module/package
+# File lookup relation for get_data(), should name a top-level package.
 module_base = "config"
 
-# Package names or base paths for module_list() and plugin_meta() lookups
+# Package/module names for module_list() and plugin_meta() lookups.
+# All associated paths will be scanned for module/plugin basenames.
 plugin_base = ["channels"]
-            # [conf.share+"/channels", conf.dir+"/plugins"])
-
 
 
 
 # Resource retrieval
 # ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
@@ -114,16 +126,24 @@
 
 
 # Plugin name lookup
 # ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
 # Search through ./plugins/ (and other configured plugin_base
-# names or paths) and get module basenames.
+# names → paths) and get module basenames.
 #
-def module_list(extra_base=[]):
+def module_list(extra_paths=[]):
+
+    # Convert plugin_base package names into paths for iter_modules
+    paths = []
+    for mp in plugin_base:
+        if sys.modules.get(mp):
+            paths += sys.modules[mp].__path__
+        elif os.path.exists(mp):
+            paths.append(mp)
 
     # Should list plugins within zips as well as local paths
-    ls = pkgutil.iter_modules(plugin_base + extra_base)
+    ls = pkgutil.iter_modules(paths + extra_paths)
     return [name for loader,name,ispkg in ls]
 
 
 
 # Plugin => meta dict