Bukkit: It's time to say ...

Discussion in 'Community News and Announcements' started by EvilSeph, Aug 21, 2014.

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    EvilSeph

    [​IMG]


    When we first set out to add our personal touch to what hMod offered the community 3 and a half years ago, none of us foresaw the success the Bukkit project would end up having. From a rocky start that wasn't of our own making (hMod suddenly disappeared without warning while we were just starting up the project, leaving us ill-prepared to fill the void left over), we stepped up to the challenge and managed to put together a usable, respectable alternative to other server mods. We even went so far as to improve on the Minecraft server itself. I can proudly and confidently say that Bukkit was and is a success: not only were we able to provide a platform for hundreds of thousands of Developers to build upon and make use of, we were also frequently providing our Server Admins with peace of mind knowing that the latest exploits and security holes were addressed in a timely and responsible manner.

    From the get go we were plagued with issues and obstacles we needed to overcome, one of which we were sadly unable to tackle despite our best efforts: the legal barrier of licensing and permission. When starting the Bukkit project and even getting involved with hMod before that, we all knew that our work - no matter how well-intentioned - fell into a dangerous legal grey area. As such, my first priority at the start was to do things right: contact Mojang to try and get permission to continue on with the project and discuss our licensing. Unfortunately, while we did get into contact with Mojang and managed to have a chat with Notch and Jeb themselves (who have said that they don't like our methods but understand that there isn't any alternative and are thus fine with what we were and are doing), we never did get an official meeting with their business side to get legally sound permission to continue as we were and were unable to sort out our licensing issues. To this day we find our project in limbo with a half-applied license some could argue is invalid and little power on our end to do anything about the situation.

    With that realisation came a nagging unease at the back of our minds that at any point in time Mojang could decide they didn't like what we were doing and shut us down - something we were all expecting for the first year or so of the project's life but, to our surprise, never occurred. Naturally, Mojang's conscious decision to not take action on our project gave us the confidence to continue on (something which I'm sure Server Admins out there can relate to given the recent, sudden and unexpected EULA enforcement) and we even later got further confirmation from Notch himself that we were and are allowed to keep proceeding as we always had.

    Fast forward to more recent times and Mojang have made the abrupt and sudden decision to start enforcing their EULA in an effort to quell the outlook of Minecraft being pay to win. While I can completely understand where they are coming from and support their mission to shut down pay to win servers, it's difficult to be supportive of their abrupt turn-around with enforcing rules they consciously decided not to enforce since the start of Minecraft. On top of this, there are also clauses - which it would be irresponsible of us not to be aware of - within the now suddenly enforced EULA that directly affect the Bukkit project.

    Most notably: "The one major rule is that you must not distribute anything we've made". While the EULA does go on to try and clarify what is meant by "anything we've made", I feel that it only serves to confuse the situation even more so. At the end of the day, it seems that Mojang can determine what is a "mod, plugin or hack" of their game on the fly and their recent abrupt turn-around on enforcing the EULA has us understandably worried. Couple this with the fact that it isn't legally viable or acceptable to enforce the EULA piecemeal and our future is clear.

    At this point in time, I think it's safe to say that it's no longer worth it for us to put up a fight when it comes to keeping Bukkit and modding alive. With large and significant changes coming in Minecraft 1.8 that we'll be hard pressed to provide support for and the lack of support from Mojang with updates since acquiring our original core team (Mojang used to provide us with mappings to speed up the update process), there is little motivation for us to continue limping on across various aspects of the project. From a project management standpoint, it's become increasingly difficult to find willing and able individuals to help out the project on a purely voluntary basis due to people losing interest in Minecraft or people looking for something more. Simply put, this was ultimately the final nail in the coffin.

    Nonetheless, no one can deny that we've had a fantastic run as a project. This is due in no small part to the support we received and continue to receive from both the Minecraft community and the many companies and organisations that have graciously chosen to support us with a ridiculous amount of resources, infrastructure and backing - far more than we could have ever asked for. No amount of words can adequately express the gratitude we have for all our sponsors who have supported us through our journey and ensured Bukkit had the infrastructure required to be the vast success it is today. To list all of what these sponsors have done for us would be a post equal in length to this one, so we will unfortunately need to keep it brief. We want to give huge shout-outs and thanks to: eXophase.com for getting us off our feet and hosting us at the start; Multiplay and Curse for swooping in and providing us with (emergency) hosting we continue to use to this day including dl.bukkit.org and our BukkitDev service; as well as AllGamer for providing us test servers whenever we needed a server to certify update and promoted builds or attempt to reproduce a bug report.

    Last, but definitely not least, we'd like to thank the many staff, both past and present, that have volunteered countless hours over the years. I am at a loss for words to express just how much these people have meant to the project and to myself. The core team who have constantly worked hard to update to every new Minecraft version, while adding in new API and improving the server itself. The BukkitDev staff who spend countless hours checking over the fantastic plugins our community creates. Our moderation staff keeping our forums orderly and safe for all people seeking out a great community to be a part of. Additionally, the many unsung people who have helped in various ways despite having no official title, simply because there was work to do. Finally, my administrators, who have tirelessly helped me keep the project functioning as a whole. I would especially like to thank TnT and mbaxter for sticking through it with me to the end, always ready to discuss an issue and provide me with advice.

    It's been a fantastic 3 and a half years of providing what we believe to be the absolute best modding platform for the wonderful Minecraft community to use. We really enjoyed seeing the amazing feats our many Developers and Server Admins achieved with the product we provided and continue to be amazed every day at the ingenuity our community shows. Thanks for everyone's continued support! It has and will continue to mean the world to us. Together we were able to provide a Minecraft server used by hundreds of thousands of servers out there (with our last Recommended Build having over 2.6 million downloads!), which is certainly something to be proud of and a great note to end on.

    This is the end, it's time to say goodbye. It's been an amazing run and we achieved much more than anyone thought was possible, even ultimately culminating in Mojang hiring our original core team. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and the Bukkit project has run its course, leaving me to make one final - incredibly difficult - decision to shut down the project I’ve poured 3 and a half years of my life into which means so much to me. We're no longer able to confidently distribute our modified versions of the Minecraft server and it is no longer smart for us to continue with our update process. Sadly, this means we will NOT be updating Bukkit nor CraftBukkit for Minecraft 1.8 and, since Minecraft 1.7.10 introduced the EULA enforcement, we will be placing the project under a code freeze for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, due to obvious legal reasons we will not be helping anyone else complete any updates nor sharing our methods despite any desire to the contrary. Although the project itself will essentially be no more, we'll continue to support our community, the forums, IRC and BukkitDev as long as we are able and as long as our partners support us with the resources and infrastructure to do so.

    As for us? Well, who knows? Maybe we'll find another game, program or project to be passionate about and we'll be back with a vengeance? Only time will tell, but I hope that we'll see you around the next passion-project of ours when it happens :)


    [lukegb]There's more to come on this. Please read this for more information about where we stand.[/lukegb]
     
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    uvbeenzaned

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    Wilbo123

    And surprise surprise Spigot is now on the same slippery slope as they have received the same DMCA, if Wolverness wanted to force Mojangs hand, then within a few days he most certainly will have.

    Still not sure if this was a very smart or very stupid move, playing them at there own games maybe, if this drags on, as legal issues tend to do, don't expect to see a 1.8 public server up anytime soon.

    As TnT put it "so long and thanks for all the fish" if Mojang do release a 1.8 update, it can no longer contain any of Wolverness's code, he wrote it and he wants it back, if I were to guess, this could be the first of many devs claiming their rights to their code, in much the same way Mojang have claimed their right to their code.

    And the upshot of all this ?

    Everybody loses !
     
    uvbeenzaned likes this.
  4. Offline

    uvbeenzaned

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    Wilbo123

    He doesn't need money, just a lawyer in the USA that thinks he has case that he can win.

    It's the litigious way of the USA and brings the most ridiculous things to court, it's just starting to get hold here in the UK, but hopefully our legal system will get bored of it and start punishing lawyers for being so stupid and wasting the courts time.
     
  6. Wait. Let me get this straight, Bukkit is no longer a project? The new EULA killed it?
     
  7. Offline

    Wilbo123

    To cut a long story short, Bukkit as was, yes.

    Bukkit as might be, with another Mojang employees help, no.
     
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    JuanPZV

    I'm not a Lawyer (althought My Mom is a Lawyer and she taught me some of law) or a big Server Developer Either, but the Dev Team can't just replace the "Wolf 's" code with a new one?, or just hide the new Update for Bukkit (I wish that it is the 1.8) in, I don't know, a Gihub Project? Or like Drugs, share the new Update by PM (and uploaded in a Mirror like Mega with a stupid Name like, for example, "Cat Eating Apples.rar"), because we (the Servers admins) need the 1.8 'cuz our members are so angry. They Say me: "why the servers still in 1.7.10? Update it please, the new 1.8 has a lot of changes!!!" but I have to reply: "sorry, but an as****** sue the Bukkit Team and they can't release the new update" :mad:
     
  9. But if Mojang owns Bukkit, then shouldn't the project be fine?
     
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    LCastr0

    Mojang didn't DCMA, Wolverness did...
     
  11. Offline

    Formula350

    You really need to learn to read the whole thread dude :\ But to put it in laymen's terms: Mojang is the victim here, as Wolverness (a person who contributed code Bukkit) is not happy with how some things turned out, got a little butthurt*, and decided to throw a tantrum.

    (*not saying he shouldn't have, but this didn't seem like the right course of action. Even if he had attempted numerous times to get Mojang to compensate him, or whatever he wants, the way he went about it was only harmful to the millions of players and not Mojang. Especially given the fact he the one guy on here who he served a DMCA to for mirroring a few of the builds yesterday, that he was intentionally trying to "destroy Bukkit", it's all just an immature mess.)
     
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    ZanderMan9

    Well, it seems we just run into one brick wall after another. At this point my head is quite thoroughly bung up, and if we have one more issue I think that'll be the not-so-light straw that breaks the Bukkit's handle. Not to mention it will splice my last nerve, which is already wearing thin.

    Thanks, Mojang, for not telling us earlier that you owned Bukkit, and for enforcing a EULA that drove the best project in your community to a shitpile.
    Thanks, Wesley Wolfe, for beating a dead horse.
    Thanks, host of bukkit.org, for taking down all the downloads, and not just the ones in question.
     
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    bortman9

    GeyserGod Lol sorry, I read that last night AFTER posting my reply. I can't wait to see where bukkit goes next!

    gorcbj Unturned is a great game, and bukkit could DEFINITELY help with the server aspect of the game. I think if the Bukkit team started working with Unturned, I think it'd be a big turning point for Unturned.
     
  14. Offline

    _LB

    Please click the link in the first post.
     
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    chsfamalam

    kinda dissapointed in the bukkit community for persecuting someone who put an awful lot of effort into developing a mod that gave owners alike a brilliant platform for their servers, if i was him i wouldnt want my code handed to a company thats took a sudden greedy turn for the worse, mojang want to remove pay to win, but what they are doing is removing playing, they're destroying the multiplayer community bringing implications to developers and owners alike. leave him to be as frustrated as server owners were when they had to re-think their donation policies...
     
    justcool393 and Temido2222 like this.
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    Ninjatsl

    Wow...:'(.. Sad news, I was just going to make a Bukkit server, I loved Bukkit, and now that its gone, what are Minecraft servers going to be like... Boring, dull, Goodbye Bukkit, the project that revolutionized Minecraft... Goodbye...
     
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    jhina5422

    Well... First the EULA, then it kills publicly developed Bukkit; finally enraged public developer blows up Bukkit's files with a DMCA Takedown Order to prevent Mojang Staffers in thier greediness from completely overtaking the project and making it theirs (I really dont care who owns the rights to Bukkit; was Mojang developing it no; were they hosting it no (Curse was)... So there you go; so there you go now that Mojang nearly killed it and has gotten community negrep enmass they want to help... LUL... The damage is done company... Enjoy your burnt steak dinner... PCE... Enjoy the end of Minecraft Multiplayer.
     
  18. Offline

    Scyntrus

    Mojang could, theoretically, just release their server as GPL and only keep their client as proprietary, but fat chance of that happening.

    Just sucks thinking of the hours I spent coding, now gone.
     
  19. Offline

    feildmaster

    That's a really strong statement. Do you really believe you got nothing out of the experience of writing plugins? That you didn't learn anything? That it was "all a waste"?
     
    xbony2 and JWhy like this.
  20. It sucks. Did you ask the same question to those who try to stop the project?
     
  21. Offline

    hmmcrunchy

    Keep strong guys, this may yet blow over - bit of drama for the community for sure, and a great shame if it does go as all the millions of hours put into all the amazing plugins on this site wont be usable.

    But it may yet continue so don't all throw in the hat just yet :) keep going
     
  22. Offline

    mossyblog

    so.. to recap

    • Allegedly Bukkit team leads don't want to play nice with Mojang
    • Allegedly Mojang scrambling to put whatever genie this is back in the bottle but are failing.
    • Allegedly Mojang are attempting to square off with the community "nothing to see here, just a small storm in a teacup" but aren't doing so as easily as one would thought.
    • (Opinion) Mojang could have outplayed this moment had they spent more time staffing up and going after that "Official" server/client modding problem that's been staring at them for over 2years now (which has finally come to haunt them).
    • Allegedly Bukkit leads are attempting to do a mod-suicide by playing the copyright hand or taking a passive aggressive swipe at the sleeping giant (Mojang). Now anyone with 10sec of "Boston Legal" (heh) viewing would probably come to a simple conclusion "So...how were you able to write code against an obfuscated proprietary product" ... which is the equivalent of saying "I didn't steal the car, i was just holding the steering wheel your honor" -
    Irrespective of who's right or wrong here and its not worth delving into, the fact is you have a situation where two parents (them) are arguing in front of the kids (us) which in the end no good comes from. I've not seen a worse Product Management / Release management disaster since my days at Microsoft when Silverlight got shutdown.

    If anything this drives home the point that irrespective of Bukkit's future Mojang need to take back control of their modding community officially and that farming it out to "crowd source" goodwill only will work to a certain point.
    What a mess.
     
    NewsByShawn and hintss like this.
  23. Offline

    DQuaN

    If we can move forward briefly from all the finger pointing, mojang/seph/wolfe bashing and legal mumbo jumbo.

    What happens moving forwards?

    Dinnerbone has said he is updating bukkit but we have had no update since then. Does anyone know how far along he is? When it is likely to be finished? Where we can get it from when it is finished?

    From a server admin point of view, I'd very much like to know when I can expect to get a my server running bukkit again and on 1.8. The players are the ones that are suffering in all of this.

    I accept that the answer may be "know one knows" or "it will be ready when it's ready", but I just thought I'd ask in case anyone had any information.

    Let's look forward to a solution rather than back with lots of arguing and raging.

    Ta

    Dunc
     
    NewsByShawn likes this.
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    CiderSpy

    Can we all just pay this guy Wesley Wolfe a shit ton of money, so we can play 1.8? As a user of Craftbukkit I will pay to play.
     
  25. This must be solved by lawyers, any past contributor might try similar stuff, unless i am mistaken. So without settling the actual matter there hardly can follow up anything - maybe if his claims are right, there could be a way around it involving money, but that then will touch all past contributors who want to see money... it could also just be an invalid claim, so the project can continue.
     
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    PapiDimmi

    I'm a little bit confused here. What does this mean? Are the Craftbukkit servers going to get shut down?
     
  27. Lawyers :). Depends on country, legislation, how the case turns/turns out, if servers already running it are really affected - it seems to have a lot of edges.
     
  28. Offline

    Col936

    God, this sucks. Can't thank you devs enough for some of the best Minecraft server software that ever existed. Bukkit will be missed very dearly, and it'll put a big hole in the community.
     
  29. Offline

    moldyspore

    Alright guys. I'll see you all back right here after all the court hearings, appeals, and the such. So figure around 2018, give or take a year.

    The only way we are going to be playing 1.8 on a Craftbukkit server anytime soon is if they settle this outside of court. The second they actually lawyer up and enter a courtroom Bukkit is finished.

    If Mojang cares about the mutiplayer community, they will do everything in their power to keep it out of court, and out of the hands of lawyers. If they lawyer up and jump in the deep end, to me that tells me they don't care as much as I thought. I don't care how this turns out, as long as I can keep running my server.
     
  30. Offline

    greeves12

    Oh come on. You give up? Dude your the reason why people been playing minecraft. Without you mine craft would be nothing. I hope that dinner bone decides to update bukkit to 1.8
     
  31. Offline

    Henriksen1000

    Is this Good bye or will Bukkit 1.8 come out? Please tell me

    PLease Tahg me so i can see what you post
     
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