Add option --plugin-dirs (#11277)

Closes #3260
Authored by: imranh2, coletdjnz

Co-authored-by: coletdjnz <coletdjnz@protonmail.com>

yt_dlp/__init__.py

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ from .postprocessor import (
 )
 from .update import Updater
 from .utils import (
+    Config,
     NO_DEFAULT,
     POSTPROCESS_WHEN,
     DateRange,
@@ -967,6 +968,10 @@ def _real_main(argv=None):
 
     parser, opts, all_urls, ydl_opts = parse_options(argv)
 
+    # HACK: Set the plugin dirs early on
+    # TODO(coletdjnz): remove when plugin globals system is implemented
+    Config._plugin_dirs = opts.plugin_dirs
+
     # Dump user agent
     if opts.dump_user_agent:
         ua = traverse_obj(opts.headers, 'User-Agent', casesense=False, default=std_headers['User-Agent'])

yt_dlp/options.py

@@ -408,6 +408,14 @@ def create_parser():
         help=(
             'Location of the main configuration file; either the path to the config or its containing directory '
             '("-" for stdin). Can be used multiple times and inside other configuration files'))
+    general.add_option(
+        '--plugin-dirs',
+        dest='plugin_dirs', metavar='PATH', action='append',
+        help=(
+            'Path to an additional directory to search for plugins. '
+            'This option can be used multiple times to add multiple directories. '
+            'Note that this currently only works for extractor plugins; '
+            'postprocessor plugins can only be loaded from the default plugin directories'))
     general.add_option(
         '--flat-playlist',
         action='store_const', dest='extract_flat', const='in_playlist', default=False,

yt_dlp/plugins.py

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from zipfile import ZipFile
 
 from .compat import functools  # isort: split
 from .utils import (
+    Config,
     get_executable_path,
     get_system_config_dirs,
     get_user_config_dirs,
@@ -84,6 +85,12 @@ class PluginFinder(importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder):
         with contextlib.suppress(ValueError):  # Added when running __main__.py directly
             candidate_locations.remove(Path(__file__).parent)
 
+        # TODO(coletdjnz): remove when plugin globals system is implemented
+        if Config._plugin_dirs:
+            candidate_locations.extend(_get_package_paths(
+                *Config._plugin_dirs,
+                containing_folder=''))
+
         parts = Path(*fullname.split('.'))
         for path in orderedSet(candidate_locations, lazy=True):
             candidate = path / parts

yt_dlp/utils/_utils.py

@@ -4897,6 +4897,10 @@ class Config:
     filename = None
     __initialized = False
 
+    # Internal only, do not use! Hack to enable --plugin-dirs
+    # TODO(coletdjnz): remove when plugin globals system is implemented
+    _plugin_dirs = None
+
     def __init__(self, parser, label=None):
         self.parser, self.label = parser, label
         self._loaded_paths, self.configs = set(), []