Minecraft has had one of the most active and diverse server experiences. Many of the things servers do today would not be possible without the Bukkit API and its implementation, CraftBukkit. From Hypixel to Playmindcrack, many of these servers would not be possible without Bukkit.
Bukkit allows developers to make plugins, or a piece of software that adds or changes a part of the game in order to perform a desired function or create a desired experience. Server owners needed Bukkit to do this, because the default Minecraft server had no native way to use plugins.
If you paid attention to Powered by Redstone around August-September of 2014, you will have heard about Bukkit and the legal issues surrounding Mojang owning it, as well as the 27 members simultaneously leaving the bukkit team. Both of these issues have been a major obstacle for server owners, and have left many to use Spigot, a performance-modified version of CraftBukkit which hosts its servers in Romania to avoid the legal issues enforced by Wesley Wolfe, a former Bukkit developer.
The legal issues surrounding Bukkit have left many to wonder, will we see the official plugin API any time soon? When Nathan Adams (Dinnerbone) was hired onto the Mojang team back in Feburary 2012, he made it one of his goals to work on an official plugin API. Three years later, we have yet to hear anything about it being even close to done.
http://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/593841459222212608
However, Dinnerbone does answer questions relating to the plugin API. Back in July 2014, he responded to me with this:
http://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/493853365911453696
As enthusiastic as he is about this, he also demonstrates that he feels like he still has a long way to go. Considering how 1.9 has very few internal changes, this could be either a good or bad thing. Could the plugin API be released in 1.9? My outlook is doubtful, as Dinnerbone has been busy with various real-world things since December. However, Dinnerbone was also really silent between September and December of 2014, so it's possible that he has something in store for us, but my intuition says that if anything, it's that we still have a long way to go before we get an official modding and plugin API.
Bukkit allows developers to make plugins, or a piece of software that adds or changes a part of the game in order to perform a desired function or create a desired experience. Server owners needed Bukkit to do this, because the default Minecraft server had no native way to use plugins.
If you paid attention to Powered by Redstone around August-September of 2014, you will have heard about Bukkit and the legal issues surrounding Mojang owning it, as well as the 27 members simultaneously leaving the bukkit team. Both of these issues have been a major obstacle for server owners, and have left many to use Spigot, a performance-modified version of CraftBukkit which hosts its servers in Romania to avoid the legal issues enforced by Wesley Wolfe, a former Bukkit developer.
The legal issues surrounding Bukkit have left many to wonder, will we see the official plugin API any time soon? When Nathan Adams (Dinnerbone) was hired onto the Mojang team back in Feburary 2012, he made it one of his goals to work on an official plugin API. Three years later, we have yet to hear anything about it being even close to done.
http://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/593841459222212608
However, Dinnerbone does answer questions relating to the plugin API. Back in July 2014, he responded to me with this:
http://twitter.com/Dinnerbone/status/493853365911453696
As enthusiastic as he is about this, he also demonstrates that he feels like he still has a long way to go. Considering how 1.9 has very few internal changes, this could be either a good or bad thing. Could the plugin API be released in 1.9? My outlook is doubtful, as Dinnerbone has been busy with various real-world things since December. However, Dinnerbone was also really silent between September and December of 2014, so it's possible that he has something in store for us, but my intuition says that if anything, it's that we still have a long way to go before we get an official modding and plugin API.