I noticed just now that the packaging output directory/"{Project Name}" folder for a non .pak file using project (bUsePakFile=False) contains all of the uproject and uplugin files from the project source, as well as example .ini files from plugins, as raw text.
It got me wondering what the use case for this is? Is it possible to modify these files towards any kind of sensible result?
I don’t know why, Double check you packing configuration btw andmake sure to build shipping build, because development build is not intended to be publicly distributed, you might also consider to raport it as bug. Epic kind of expect you to use pak files on final build. Note that packing is not only for final builds but also for development and debug test builds that want to distribute and use internally.
Feel free to delete uproject and uplugin files they are only needed for editor, in UE4 you build on top of engine code stack practically extending engine it self, in the past (before UE4) there was no project system and you actually needed to have separate engine installation for each project. UE4 introduced project system which used uproject file as glide post so both engine code and game project can be stored secretly but can work as one and thats what uproject is really needed for. So as long as your packaging have engine files it should work without need of uproject and you can delete it.
As for INI files thats 100% normal and those are default settings that will land to user config anyway. since UE1 and game “Unreal” those engine configuration files was always exposed like that, if you enable pak they just stored there. Even if you wont have those INI files exposed you need to keep in mind that any varbales exposed for INI config setting is accessible to use by setting those varbales in config files that are created anyway in user files. So don’t put any sensitive info in INI files in first place and watch out what what variables you expose for configuration in your code.