When an autoload module is installed via
AutoUpdate, the module's XML file will be written
like this:

... prolog ...
<module name="org.brianlsmith.smn.mdr">
    <param name="autoload">true</param>
    <param name="eager">false</param>
    <param name="jar">oad/smnmdr.jar</param>
    <param name="origin">user/autoload</param>
    <param name="release">1</param>
    <param name="reloadable">false</param>
    <param name="specversion">1.0</param>
</module>

Notice that the "jar" parameter has an "oad/"
prefix. The problem is that the code is doing this:
   if (jarName.startsWith("autoload")) {
       autoload = true;
       jarName = jarName.substring("eager");  // <<--
    }

To me, this problem causes my autoload module to
be impossible to install, AFAICT. And, it seems
that this code has been in NetBeans since 3.4
release, from looking at the CVS tags.

Another problem is that if your module is an eager
module, then the XML document will look like:
    ...
    <param name="eager">false</param>
    <param name="jar">/smnmdr.jar</param>
    <param name="origin">user/eager</param>
    ...
where the "jar" parameter has an extra slash.

Another problem is that if your module's jarfile
is prefixed with "eager" or "autoload" without a
slash ("eagertoplease.jar", "autoloadtest.jar"),
they will be incorrectly configured: in the first
case, it will be treated as an eager module file
named "toplease.jar" and in the latter case it
will be treated as an autoload module file named
"test.jar". To fix this you need to include the
slash in the test (e.g. jarFile.startsWith("eager/"))

I gave this Priority=P1 because it seems I cannot
release my tool in NBM form until this is fixed.
But, I am anxious to see any workaround that is
available, particularly one that will work on
NetBeans 3.4 release. And, also if this problem
_does_ occur in NetBeans 3.4 then I would like to
have it nominated for NetBeans 3.4.1