Welcome to the weekly Minecraft Plugin Spotlight! Today we will take a closer look at "CraftBukkitUpToDate", a plugin created by NoFear13.
CraftBukkitUpToDate is meant for people who run their own CraftBukkit server and spend much time on keeping it up to date.
When this plugin is installed server owners will no longer have to check for updates manually, as CButD will take over that task; saving them a large amount of time. Not only does it check if CraftBukkit is up to date, it checks supported plugins as well!
Once an update for CraftBukkit is available a broadcast will be shown in the chat. After the check is completed the updates will get downloaded automatically to the bukkit_update folder. However, server owners will have to install them manually; which simply means copying files from one folder to another, so it is not that much of a problem of course.
Besides downloading the latest version of each plugin, CButD also keeps changelogs; making it easy to check what features have been fixed, updated and added:
Rather than controlling the plugin from within the game, it is also possible to update your server using the server console:
In order to suit your preferences the plugin can be configured in various ways, by editing the provided .properties file:
- Blacklist: plugins added to this list will not be updated
- Toggle automatic updates for plugins and CraftBukkit
- Toggle automatic downloading
- Downloadfolder name
- Toggle broadcast
- Choose what kind of updates you would like to receive: recommended, beta or dev build
- ...and more!
In a nutshell CraftBukkitUpToDate is a very useful and timesaving tool for server owners. Due to its popularity chances are that you are already using it. If you own a CraftBukkit server, have never heard of this plugin and are looking for an easy way to update both the server and its plugins; be sure to give it a try, you won't regret it!
Lastly, we also had the opportunity to set up an interview with NoFear13, the creator of CraftBukkitUpToDate. Read it below to find out more about the development process of this plugin!
What motivated you to create CraftBukkitUpToDate?
I had a private CraftBukkit-Server with my brother and I had to administrate the server, with 20 plugins I had a little problem to keep them all up to date. So I thought about a system which automatically checks for updates, first only of CraftBukkit later also for the plugins. The first version needed a properties-File to know the source of each plugin, after the switch to dev.bukkit.org I completely rewrote the code to check automatically if the url of the plugin like the name, this saved me a lot of time.
How was your plugin received by the community at its initial release?
The first version was without the plugin-Update-Check so it was only able to update CraftBukkit, but the community and I needed also a way to update the plugins so I thought about a system that knows the sources of the plugins and check for updates. But without the community I never thought about a plugin-Update. So the response was very positive for me.
Approximately how much time went into developing the plugin so far?
40-80 hours.
Did you come across any challenges while working on your plugin?
The challenges are caused by the Bukkit-Team in the 1.5 years I developed CButD Bukkit changed many time the Download/Build-System of CB so I needed to work with many different systems
What tools have you used to make this plugin possible?
MyEclipse
Have you learned anything new from developing this plugin?
Yes, until I developed this plugin I didn't know that with http support you can only download a file if it has changed; a user gave me this tip. And some new parts of xml-Parsing I didn't know before
What part of the development process of CraftBukkitUpToDate did you enjoy most?
The response of the community, this project only my second "mod" and I didn't expect so much response.
And what is your favourite part of the plugin itself?
The plugin-Update, this part saves me so much time.
Are you currently working on any other plugins or updates?
No.
Besides Minecraft, have you ever made any plugins for other games?
Yes, Fallout New Vegas, but I stopped the support for this mod, at the end it was only a click-Season, I'm not the guy who works with Mod-Kit, I need a source-Code ;-)
Do you have any advice for other potential plugin developers?
Yes, CB-Plugin development works only if you know how to develop with Java, this means you should first learn Java and then look at the Development-Api of CB.
The advantage of this is that almost everything is possible to create with the Plugin-System of CB.
Many thanks to NoFear13 for creating this plugin and for participating in our interview!
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