Why I do not really need to keep lists of moodle plugins in my installation...

For the first few years that I supported moodle sites, there was an emphasis on keeping a list of plugins that i had added to the moodle.  Makes sense to keep track of this.  I try not to add plugins unless some asks for a specific one.  I do not offer them to my moodle customers.  I support 10 moodle instances.  Some have no plugins.  Some have one or two.  A couple have more than 3.  I would spend time making lists or updating lists so I would remember what I had put where and why.  I am not advocating that you NOT do this, I am simply observing that I probably do not need to keep such as list or worry too much about what I installed.

The plugin information is, of course, kept in the DB.  When you update your moodle instance, you are NOT swapping out the DB with a newer version, thats the code!.  You are updating the DB.  In the newer versions of moodle, 2.6 - lets say, the upgrade process clearly reports to you which plugins you will need to get.  In other words, when you drop the new moodle code in place (save the config.php file),  the upgrade process automatically kicks in.  If you are logged into an account with Admin. privilege.

That upgrade starts with the plugins.  Highlighting all the new options with the new code AND plugins, that are registered in your DB, but missing from the code in the new install.  The upgrade process even includes buttons that will allow moodle to actually go out, get the correct instance of the plugin (depending on your moodle version), and install it into the correct plugin point in the code. In a word, nice.  In the past, you would need to go and get the plugin code, download, unzip and then place into the new code base at the proper plugin point.   Not trivial.

Alas, I am not as concerned as I once was with keeping this list.

Let the moodle plugin upgrade code handle recommending which plugin version and where to put it.  Stickies like this are becoming obsolete!

The end.