Hi Tim
The Installer was introduced in order to create an Installer for Authentication providers. It was built in such a way that it could be used to install all sorts of components, and you probably could install a "Provider" today.
However to do that - you would need to register a new "Package Type" and create the manifest accordingly.
There currently is no documentation - primarily because of time and resources, but also because we are not really ready to open this up fully yet. This should happen in the first quarter of next year for the initial "Cambrian" release,
To install a provider you would need to build a manifest with a number of components - For example here is the manifest to install the XMLLoggingProvider.
<dotnetnuke type="Package" version="4.0">
<packages>
<package name="XMLLoggingProvider" type="Provider" version="02.00.01">
<description>DotNetNuke XML Logging Provider Project</description>
<dependencies/>
<vendor>
<companyName>DotNetNuke Corporation</companyName>
<contactInfo>support@dotnetnuke.com</contactInfo>
<license src="license.txt" />
</vendor>
<components>
<component type="Assembly">
<assemblies>
<assembly>
<path>bin\Providers</path>
<name>DotNetNuke.XMLLoggingProvider.dll</name>
<version>02.00.01</version>
</assembly>
</assemblies>
</component>
<component type="File">
<files>
<basePath>Providers\LoggingProviders\XMLLoggingProvider</basePath>
<file>
<name>license.txt</name>
</file>
</files>
</component>
<component type="Config">
<config>
<configFile>web.config</configFile>
<install>
<configuration>
<nodes>
<node path="/configuration/dotnetnuke/logging/providers" action="update" key="name" collision="overwrite">
<add name="XMLLoggingProvider" type="DotNetNuke.Services.Log.EventLog.XMLLoggingProvider, DotNetNuke.XMLLoggingProvider"
configfilename="LogConfig.xml.resources" providerPath="~\Providers\LoggingProviders\XMLLoggingProvider\" />
</node>
</nodes>
</configuration>
</install>
<uninstall>
<configuration>
<nodes>
<node path="/configuration/dotnetnuke/logging/providers/add[@name='XMLLoggingProvider']" action="remove" />
</nodes>
</configuration>
</uninstall>
</config>
</component>
<component type="Cleanup">
<files>
<file>
<path>bin</path>
<name>DotNetNuke.XMLLoggingProvider.dll</name>
</file>
</files>
</component>
</components>
</package>
</packages>
</dotnetnuke>
This has an "Assembly" component to install the assembly, a "Files" component to copy the license.txt file, a "Config" component to update the web.config file and a "CleanUp" component to remove the old version of the provider (the "Assembly" component nistalls the assembly into bin\Providers so the old assembly in /bin needs to be removed.
As long as you follow this approach - it should work today - you would need to add the provider Package type to the PackageTypes table.
Anyway, while this should help you - the final API has not been ironed out yet, so ther may be changes once the Installer is fully implemented.