Reminder: Bukkit is following a new release system.

As announced back on the 16th of Februrary, 2012: Bukkit is now following a new release system that enables us to better cater to the countless various types of Server Admins out there. This new system allows us to provide those of you who want quicker updates with new Beta releases, while still providing those of you who would like peace of mind when updating your server with well tested Recommended Build releases. As a result, we ask that plugin developers, game server providers and everyone else please move to supporting the various cycles of our new release system so that we may fully utilise the usefulness and potential this new system provides us with.

What is the difference between a Beta Build and a Recommended Build?
A Beta Build:

• Has not been thoroughly tested, so may contain minor bugs.
• May have incomplete features.
• May have incomplete API.
• With the exception of the first Beta Build promoted after a Minecraft update is released, Beta Builds are generally stable enough to run a production server on.
• While we try our best to address all major issues we're aware of before promoting a Beta Build, there is no way we can be aware of all issues before they are discovered.
• Is promoted more often than a Recommended Build.
• Will be promoted if we find issues in a previous Beta Build.

A Beta Build has not gone through our usual extensive testing, may have incomplete features and API and is mostly provided for those individuals who just want to update to the latest Minecraft and don't need plugins that utilise anything new the Minecraft update provides. Beta Builds are generally quite stable, and thus can be run on a production server, but may have minor issues due to our not putting them through our extreme testing regimen. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to be completely aware of every single bug before they are discovered, so we can't completely ensure that any build we release is free of issues, but we do try our best. If we discover any unaddressed issues in the beta, we may end up promoting another one. Betas also are naturally promoted more frequently than Recommended Builds, based on the speed of development. Furthermore, when a Minecraft update comes out, we will promote a beta build as soon as we have a compatible build that compiles for those of you who want to help us test. We highly recommended against using this first Beta Build to run a production server.

A Recommended Build:

• Has been extensively and thoroughly tested, so should not contain any major or minor bugs. However, we can't provide any guarantees as there is no possible way for us to be aware of all issues before they are discovered.
• Has complete features.
• Has complete API.
• However, may not have all the API or features to cover what is added by a Minecraft update.
• Is naturally promoted after several Beta Builds have been promoted.
• Will be promoted if we find issues in a previous Recommended Build.

A Recommended Build has gone through extensive testing and should not have any known issues. These builds are for Server Admins who want peace of mind when updating their server to the latest Minecraft update. We'll do our best to ensure that Recommended Builds only have completed features and completed API before being promoted, though we cannot ensure that a Recommended Build will have all the API needed to fully utilise newly added features in a Minecraft update. Although we go through great pains to ensure that these builds will not cause any issues, we highly advise you test them on a test server before deploying to production. Recommended Builds are naturally promoted after several Beta Builds have been promoted, and thus are promoted less frequently than Beta Builds.

If you are a plugin developer, we advise you to keep on top of Beta builds at the very least, if you are not already keeping on top of development builds. Though Betas and Recommended Builds are somewhat separated, it is highly unlikely that the API will change between them unless we deem it absolutely necessary. As such, you can safely develop against Beta Builds and still be preparing for Recommended Builds at the same time.

If you are a game server provider, we ask that you provide support for both the Beta and Recommended Builds we provide as they are usually both stable enough to run on production, with the exception of the first Beta Build we promote as that is primarily just a compatibility build for people to help test and find bugs.

This new system was designed and implemented to better serve the Minecraft community and provide plugin developers and game server providers with a more predictable, stable schedule to work with.

 

Woo!

 

Looks awesome!

 

Yoooo!

 

What are the standard URLs for downloading the latest of each class of release..... so that I use the URL in multicraft etc

 

YAY

 

ok I've found http://dl.bukkit.org/latest-beta/craftbukkit.jar works, be easier if the file it returns is simply craftbukkit.jar rather than currently where the filename reflects the version

 

i was just thinkin about testin out the beta build and then i saw this post. here goes nothing =P

 

Yay

 

Yeah. Finally I can compare Beta Builds and RB's.

 

Can someone please nuke that ugly blue 'prepare for R5' banner at the top of every forum page? It's old and annoying.

 

i tried the beta build, but i have alot of plugins on my server and some crucial ones still need to be updated...guess ill stick with 1.1 for now =[

 

WOOT award for organization.

 

Looks great. Cant wait for a RB!

 

I tried that for a week and ended up with an empty server. When the release window between Mojang and Bukkit is measured in weeks/months, you have to go with the betas if you want any users on your server.

 

yeah im already at an empty server (besides my girlfriend and a couple friends) its surprisingly peaceful though lol. i might just use the time to redo some of my builds and whatnot

 

+1 for near empty server

whats worse is we use mods many of which are up to date with 1.2.3 but no one will port for a beta craft bukkit.

we have a test server now on the latest beta and its solid.

i dont think bukkit team know just how important it is to have timely RB builds i dread to think what it will be like when thier incorporated into minecraft itself. theres no need for beta builds! DEV versions then RB

 

Hi! I got one question about recommended builds. It's about bugs in the vanilla minecraft server. For example, the current version 1.2.3 of the genuine minecraft server has a whole lot of bugs that make me not want to use this version at all. Now, if there's a recommmended bukkit for version 1.2.3, does it mean that bukkit doesn't contain any bugs at all, thus meaning that the bukkit team didn't only fix their own bugs, but the 'vanilla' bugs, too? Or does this just mean that bukkit for itself doesn't add any own bugs, but maybe contains bugs that already where there in the genuine minecraft server 1.2.3?

Thank you

 

so will you keep developing bukkit, or should we admins expect that once there is a 1.2.3 RB out, bukkit dies?

 

Soooooo....that means that you want people to stop complaining about how a Recommended Build isn't out yet? Or is there now a 3rd beta build?

 

Are there plans to increase or automate the speed of the RB validation in the future and/or will the new official API be released with the intent to decrease the time between release and RB w/critical mods?

 

a LOT of the mod developers say they will privately work on updating their plugins to match beta builds, but they aren't officially updating until bukkit updates to a RB... so bukkit, PLEASE do not think that the beta builds will speed up server releases/updates. If anything, it is drastically slowing them down.
It may be a smoother transition, but it is becoming a much longer and pain-staking process.
For once, i've actually discontinued my server, because Bukkit has shown no signs of a RB... and even once there is an RB, there will still be a few plugins that have to update again... Why pay for services of a mod/API that isn't going to 'officially' update for over a month?

 

We try our best to fix issues I evaluate to be major issues in a Minecraft update itself, however we can only modify one part of the puzzle: the server. A lot of times a fix requires changing the client too, and we don't have that freedom. That being said, we work incredibly hard to ensure that the builds we release are of the highest quality and do not contain any game breaking bugs if we can at all help it - be them caused by Bukkit or in Minecraft itself. Still, it has to be kept in mind that it is nearly impossible to produce software without bugs, as we are only human. Regardless, we do strive to address all the bugs and issues we are aware of before deciding to promote and release a Beta or Recommended Build.

Both the Beta and Recommended Builds are supported and 'official' and official. We can't force plugin developers to update their plugins, you'll have to kindly ask them to do so. There is very little chance of work they do on Beta Builds not contributing to work on a Recommended Build, so I don't see the issue.

 

Hi EvilSeph ! I was wondering if it's possible to add a thing to turn off/on login/logout messages? There're spam bots that joins and leaves rapidly which floods the server. There're plugins to hide them, but it doesn't help 100%, there's still a glitch for logout message. Would that be possible, sir?

Best Regards,

Simuciokas

 

So... may someone tell me when the next RB will come out I am so desperate! Thanks

 

I had the R3 version of nolagg when I updated to 1.2.3-R01, now the whole world slided

 

That's just great

 

Umm... backup?
You really should when doing any kinds of updates to your server do a backup of your world just in case of disaster.
you never know what happens

 

When a stable build is made. That is about as accurate as anyone can tell you. If you are as desperate as you say, update to the latest Beta release of CB for MC 1.2.3. Remember, backup before hand. And amungst many other players, when updating your worlds to MC 1.2.3, it will take a long time on the first run as your worlds will be converted to the new format. For just two worlds on my server took 45minutes.

 

That 's easy.. It will be out according to history since MC went out of beta one maybe 2 weeks before another minecraft update. When minecraft was in BETA bukkit was out alot faster, but aparently something has changed since official release of minecraft.

So when jeb starts to talk about maybe 1.3 then bukkit will be up for 1.2, and so forth.. as usual..
Im sure its very hard, and i appriciate the work done by them, back when it was volunteer.
Now that they are going proffesional (sponsered) etc. im a bit more critical.