Exam Terraform Associate topic 1 question 177 discussion

A- no info about TF loading a provider directly from source code, so this must be the correct answer. B- In the plugin directory are stored the providers, so TF could load providers from it C- releases.hashicorp.com is a valid source where providers can be downloaded from D- If the plugin provider cache is enabled eventually a provider could be loaded from it.

I did check the releases.hashicorp.com and found that terraform providers can be downloaded from that URL. For example you can refer the AWS provider from the URL 'https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform-provider-aws/'

Terraform cannot load a provider from the Official HashiCorp distribution on releases.hashicorp.com. The Official HashiCorp distribution on releases.hashicorp.com is the source where Terraform retrieves official provider releases. Terraform downloads provider binaries from this source and caches them in the provider plugin cache directory. The provider plugin cache is a location on the local machine where Terraform stores downloaded provider plugins to be used across multiple configurations.

A. Source code. Terraform can load a provider from a variety of sources, including the official HashiCorp distribution on releases.hashicorp.com, the provider plugin cache, and a plugins directory. However, Terraform cannot load a provider directly from the source code. Providers must be compiled and packaged as plugins before they can be loaded by Terraform. Terraform uses the provider's plugin binary to interact with the provider's API and manage the corresponding resources. Therefore, to use a provider in Terraform, it must be available as a compiled and packaged plugin in one of the supported locations.

releases.hashicorp.com is not related to terraform providers, its the main company site about all products

Terraform requires providers to be installed in its plugins directory. Providers obtained from other sources, such as source code or provider plugin caches, cannot be directly loaded by Terraform. Providers must be installed in the plugins directory to be properly recognized and used by Terraform.

When using the required_providers setting to specify a version constraint, Terraform currently assumes the source is registry.terraform.io (or releases.hashicorp.com for older versions). Both registry.terraform.io and releases.hashicorp.com are populated by the providers grouped within the the terraform-providers organization on GitHub.

C should be the answer

C The Releases API provides metadata about every HashiCorp product release hosted on our release site, HashiCorp Releases, and includes useful information such as links to release notes, licenses, associated repositories, and more. ref: https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/announcing-the-hashicorp-releases-api