What if to store the module in archive and when you wanna setup one you need only unpack the archive. But what do you mean "not the source code itself". If not the code what do you want to store then? Maybe links on downloading the module?
the main idea here is that I would provide 50-60 modules (or maybe more), using one database for all my customers, on different domains, but all those domains would point back to the main (my) server. (it’s called SASS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service )
the goal here, that I only have to maintain one set of source code and store everything under one umbrella (in one DB). I’m very close to finish the foundation of this, I just need to figure out a way to communicate between the modules themselves.