Index: channels/_generic.py
==================================================================
--- channels/_generic.py
+++ channels/_generic.py
@@ -22,18 +22,19 @@
 #
 
 
 import gtk
 from mygtk import mygtk
-from config import conf, __print__, dbg
+from config import *
 import ahttp as http
 import action
 import favicon
 import os.path
 import xml.sax.saxutils
 import re
 import copy
+import inspect
 
 
 # dict==object
 class struct(dict):
         def __init__(self, *xargs, **kwargs):
@@ -46,10 +47,11 @@
 # generic channel module                            ---------------------------------------
 class GenericChannel(object):
 
         # desc
         module = "generic"
+        meta = {}
         title = "GenericChannel"
         homepage = "http://fossil.include-once.org/streamtuner2/"
         base_url = ""
         listformat = "audio/x-scpls"
         audioformat = "audio/mpeg" # fallback value
@@ -98,10 +100,12 @@
         def __init__(self, parent=None):
         
             #self.streams = {}
             self.gtk_list = None
             self.gtk_cat = None
+            self.meta = plugin_meta(inspect.getsourcefile(inspect.getmodule(self)))
+            self.config = self.meta["config"]
 
             # only if streamtuner2 is run in graphical mode        
             if (parent):
                 self.cache()
                 self.gui(parent)

Index: config.py
==================================================================
--- config.py
+++ config.py
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #
 # encoding: UTF-8
 # api: streamtuner2
+#  .2
 # type: class
 # title: global config object
 # description: reads ~/.config/streamtuner/*.json files
+# config: {type:var, name:z, description:v}
 #
 # In the main application or module files which need access
 # to a global conf object, just import this module as follows:
 #
 #   from config import conf
@@ -18,14 +20,17 @@
 import os
 import sys
 import json
 import gzip
 import platform
+import re
+import zipfile
+import inspect
 
 
 # export symbols
-__all__ = ["conf", "__print__", "dbg"]
+__all__ = ["conf", "__print__", "dbg", "plugin_meta"]
 
 
 
 #-- create a single instance of config object
 conf = object()
@@ -44,12 +49,11 @@
             # prepare
             self.defaults()
             self.xdg()
             
             # runtime
-            dirs = ["/usr/share/streamtuner2", "/usr/local/share/streamtuner2", sys.path[0], "."]
-            self.share = [d for d in dirs if os.path.exists(d)][0]
+            self.share = os.path.dirname(__file__)
             
             # settings from last session
             last = self.load("settings")
             if (last):
                 self.update(last)
@@ -203,10 +207,57 @@
                 if os.path.exists(d+"/"+file):
                     return d+"/"+file
 
 
 
+# Plugin meta data extraction
+#
+# Extremely crude version for Python and streamtuner2 plugin usage.
+# Doesn't check top-level comment coherency.
+# But supports plugins within python zip archives.
+#
+rx_zipfn  = re.compile(r"""^(.+\.(?:zip|pyz|pyzw|pyzip)(?:\.py)?)/(\w.*)$""")
+rx_meta   = re.compile(r"""^ {0,4}# *([\w-]+): *(.+(\n *#  +(?![\w-]+:).+)*)$""", re.M)  # Python comments only
+rx_lines  = re.compile(r"""\n *# """)        # strip multi-line prefixes
+rx_config = re.compile(r"""[\{\<](.+?)[\}\>]""")     # extract only from JSOL/YAML scheme
+rx_fields = re.compile(r"""["']?(\w+)["']?\s*[:=]\s*["']?([^,]+)(?<!["'])""")  # simple key: value entries
+#
+def plugin_meta(fn=None, frame=1, src=""):
+
+    # filename of caller
+    if not fn:
+        fn = inspect.getfile(sys._getframe(frame))
+
+    # within zip archive?
+    zip = rx_zipfn.match(fn)
+    if zip and zipfile.is_zipfile(zip.group(1)):
+        src = zipfile.ZipFile(zip.group(1), "r").read(zip.group(2))
+    else:
+        src = open(fn).read(4096)
+
+    # defaults
+    meta = {
+        "fn": fn,
+        "id": os.path.basename(fn).replace(".py", "")
+    }
+    # extraction
+    for field in rx_meta.findall(src):
+        meta[field[0]] = rx_lines.sub("", field[1])
+
+    # unpack config: structures
+    meta["config"] = [
+        dict([field for field in rx_fields.findall(entry)])
+        for entry in rx_config.findall(meta.get("config", ""))
+    ]
+        
+    return meta
+
+
+
+
+
+
 
 # wrapper for all print statements
 def __print__(*args):
     if conf.debug:
         print(" ".join([str(a) for a in args]))
@@ -229,9 +280,6 @@
    
 #-- actually fill global conf instance
 conf = ConfigDict()
 if conf:
     __print__(dbg.PROC, "ConfigDict() initialized")
-
-
-