`cordova plugin add` is broken for tarballs

[janpio]

Bug Report

Problem

I can't install a plugin from a .tgz file created via npm pack in a plugin folder.

What is expected to happen?

The plugin should be installed.

What does actually happen?

λ cordova plugin add "..\..\Cordova\cordova-plugin-device\cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz"
Invalid Plugin! ..\..\Cordova\cordova-plugin-device\cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz needs a valid package.json

λ cordova plugin add ./cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz --verbose
No scripts found for hook "before_plugin_add".
No version specified for ./cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz, retrieving version from config.xml
No version for null saved in config.xml or package.json
Attempting to use npm info for null to choose a compatible release
Running command: npm view ./cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz --json
Command finished with error code 0: npm view,./cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz,--json
npm info for helloworld did not contain any engine info. Fetching latest release
Calling plugman.fetch on plugin "./cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz"
Invalid Plugin! cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz needs a valid package.json
CordovaError: Invalid Plugin! cordova-plugin-device-2.0.4-dev.tgz needs a valid package.json
    at C:\Users\Jan\scoop\persist\nvm\nodejs\v12.6.0\node_modules\cordova\node_modules\cordova-lib\src\plugman\fetch.js:78:43
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:85:5)

Same happens on Mac as well.

Information

Version information

λ cordova -v
9.0.0 ([email protected])

Checklist

• [x] I searched for existing GitHub issues
• [x] I updated all Cordova tooling to most recent version
• [x] I included all the necessary information above

[janpio]

Code: https://github.com/apache/cordova-lib/blob/master/src/plugman/fetch.js#L71

Documented example of usage of plugin add with .tgz file: https://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/latest/reference/cordova-cli/#cordova-plugin-command + scroll down to Examples - or - Ctrl + F for cordova plugin add ../cordova-plugin-camera.tgz

[distante]

So it is a known issue then

[TheHighriser]

I have the same problem. Installation of tgz is not possible.