A very rough bash script to replace meteor cordova tarball URLs with a private NPM reference. Use together with sinopia.

replace_cordova_tarballs_with_npm.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Run this from the meteor application folder. It's assumed that the git root is somewhere 
# ABOVE the meteor application folder. If your meteor application root *is* the git root,
# review this code very carefully as I've not tested it in such cases.
# 
# It downloads all meteor cordova tarball and https plugins, and registers them
#  with the npm registry. I use this with a private registry (sinopia).
# It then updates the meteor cordova plugin registry with a reference to the npm registry.
meteordir="`pwd`"
destfoldername="cordova-plugins"
gitbase="`git rev-parse --show-toplevel`"
destfolderpath="${gitbase}/${destfoldername}"


if [ ! -d .meteor ]; then
  echo "you need to run this from your meteor project."
  exit 1;
fi

#plugman must be installed
command -v plugman >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "I require plugman but it's not installed.  Aborting." >&2; exit 1; }

#check that npm registry is not default
npmregistry=`npm config get registry`
if [ ${npmregistry} == "https://registry.npmjs.org/" ]; then 
  echo "Your npm registry is set to the default."
  echo "You need to publish to your own private npm registry. Install and run Sinopia:"
  echo -e "    npm install -g sinopia\n\n" 
  echo "Then set the npm registry before running this script (and keep it set when running meteor):"
  echo "    npm config set registry http://localhost:4873/"
  echo "    npm config set ca null"
  echo "    npm adduser"
  exit 2;
fi

if [[ ! -z $(git status -s) ]]; then 
  echo "Your git repository has changes. You MUST run this on a clean repository."
  echo "Commit your changes first, then re-run."
  git status -s
  exit 2;
fi

mkdir -p "${destfolderpath}"
cd "$destfolderpath"
gitRelativePath=`pwd | sed "s|${gitbase}/||"`

 # call like this: downloadAndPublish "${i}" "${tarball}" "${giturl}" "${giturlnaked}" "${localname}" "${pluginid}" "${sha}"
 function downloadAndPublish() {
   i="${1}"
   tarball="${2}"
   giturl="${3}"
   giturlnaked="${4}"
   localname="${5}"
   pluginid="${6}"
   sha="${7}"
 
   echo -e "============\n" \
   "PLUGIN:$i\n" \
   "tarball:$tarballurl\n" \
   "giturl:$giturl\n" \
   "giturlnaked:$giturlnaked\n" \
   "localname:$localname\n" \
   "pluginid:$pluginid\n" \
   "sha:$sha\n" \
   "============\n\n" 

   # clean the destination if it already exists
   if [ -d "${destfolderpath}/${localname}" ]; then
     rm -rf "${destfolderpath}/${localname}"   
   fi
   
   # Get the module from git and add it as a submodule of this repo
   echo -e "adding git submodule ${localname}\n\n"
   cd ${gitbase}
   git submodule add "${giturl}" "./${gitRelativePath}/${localname}" && \
     git submodule update --init --recursive  --force && \
     cd "${gitbase}/${gitRelativePath}/${localname}" && \
     git checkout "${sha}"
     
       if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
         echo "ERROR: Git submodule / checkout didn't work"
         cleanupAndExit 3
       fi

   # Ensure we have a package.json
   # cd "${destfoldername}/${localname}"
   
   if [ ! -f package.json ]; then
     if [ -f plugin.xml ]; then
       echo -e "\n-------\n" 
       echo "Generating package.json from plugin.xml."
       echo "It's a good idea to use the cordova plugin ID ${pluginid} as the package name. "
       echo "git url is: ${giturl}"
       echo "Stick with defaults in other cases."
       plugman createpackagejson .
       if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
         echo "ERROR: Couldn't create package.json for ./${gitRelativePath}/${localname}"
         cleanupAndExit 4
       fi

     else 
       echo "No package.json, and can't find plugin.xml to generage package.json from"
       echo "(in folder `pwd`)"
       cleanupAndExit 5;
     fi
   fi
   
   # We need to discover the version number in the package.json
   version=`node -pe 'JSON.parse(process.argv[1]).version' "$(cat package.json)"`
   packagename=`node -pe 'JSON.parse(process.argv[1]).name' "$(cat package.json)"`

   
   # Let's publish
   echo "publishing ${packagename}@${version}"
   npm publish .

   retval=$?

   if [ $retval -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "Couldn't publish plugin for ./${gitRelativePath}/${localname}"
     echo "when trying to publish ${packagename}@${version}"
     echo "trying to unpublish and republish"
     npm unpublish ${packagename}@${version}
     npm publish .
     retval=$?
   fi

   if [ $retval -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "ERROR: Couldn't publish plugin for ./${gitRelativePath}/${localname}"
     echo "when trying to publish ${packagename}@${version}"
     cleanupAndExit 5
   fi

   cd "${meteordir}"
   echo "replacing meteor cordova git reference with local sinopia reference..."
   meteor remove "cordova:${pluginid}" && \
     meteor add "cordova:${packagename}@${version}"
   
   cd "${destfolderpath}"

 }

 function cleanupAndExit() {
   # we do a hard git reset.
   cd "${gitbase}"
   git reset --hard

   # cleanup the .git/modules folder
   echo "You probably want to clean up the git modules:"
   echo "rm -rf ${gitbase}/.git/modules/${destfoldername}"
   echo ""
   echo "You should also clean up the cordova plugins that were downloaded."
   echo "rm -rf ${destfolderpath}"

   echo ""
   echo "Also you need to unpublish any npm publications before re-running:"
   echo "npm unpublish package_name@version"
   echo "see http://localhost:4873 for a list (if using sinopia)"
   exit $1
 }
# download the plugin tarballs
for i in `grep tarball ${meteordir}/.meteor/cordova-plugins`; 
#for i in "de.appplant.cordova.plugin.email-composer@https://github.com/katzer/cordova-plugin-email-composer/tarball/db9c3aa9a7923c427bb85fea82f4e95f445a28f3";
do
   tarballurl=`echo $i | cut -d@ -f2`
   giturl=`echo $tarballurl | sed "s/\/tarball\/.*/.git/"`
   giturlnaked=`echo $giturl | sed "s/\.git$//"` # without the .git suffix
   localname=`echo $giturlnaked | rev | cut -d/ -f1 | rev`
   sha=`echo $i | rev | cut -d/ -f1 | rev`
   pluginid=`echo $i | cut -d@ -f1`
   
   downloadAndPublish "${i}" "${tarball}" "${giturl}" "${giturlnaked}" "${localname}" "${pluginid}" "${sha}"
done


# Download the https cordova plugins.
# for i in uk.co.workingedge.phonegap.plugin.istablet@https://github.com/dpa99c/phonegap-istablet.git#8eab0629fe445df6d1d0ef834cf5cdfbf673979e
for i in `grep @https ${meteordir}/.meteor/cordova-plugins | grep -v tarball`; 
 do
   tarballurl="none"
   giturl=`echo $i | cut -f2 -d@ | sed "s/#.*//"`
   giturlnaked=`echo $giturl | sed "s/\.git$//"`
   localname=`echo $giturlnaked | rev | cut -d/ -f1 | rev`
   sha=`echo $i | rev | cut -d# -f1 | rev`
   pluginid=`echo $i | cut -d@ -f1`
   
   downloadAndPublish "${i}" "${tarball}" "${giturl}" "${giturlnaked}" "${localname}" "${pluginid}" "${sha}"
 done