[PSA]: Pausing development & about the future of this plugin

[spartacus04]

Discussed in #378

^{Originally posted by spartacus04 May 24, 2024}

Development pause

As my exams are getting closer, you may have noticed that this repository hasn't been really been updated in a while.
In this announcement I just want to say that because of said exams I won't be updating the plugin for a while.
Development will resume in a few months.

Future of this plugin

That said, I'd like to talk about the new 1.21 update.
In the latest snapshot jukeboxes became data driven, that means users can add their own music discs without this plugin being required. However I intend to still support 1.21 and later versions, the plugin makes configuring the discs as easy as possible, and it also has some unique features like the jukebox gui, and the upcoming advanced jukebox gui & nbs support.

I would also like to add that, since both studying engineering and developing a project this big alone is not really feasable, the plugin 2.1 update will be the last major feature update. I think I added everything the community may need, and I also build a easy-to-use api for plugin developers to interact with the plugin in case a custom solution is needed.
The only exception to this are bug fixes and major minecraft updates.
That could change if the repository gets another mantainer, but as of now I'm not willing to spend money for a project that's completely free.
Also who knows, perhaps I'll pull a Terraria move and come back in a year with a final final update.

That's all everyone,
Andrew

[90257550]

you are hero!!!!!!!!

[spartacus04]

Hello everyone, the 2.1 update just got released.

This has been quite the journey. In the beginnning this was supposed to be a small plugin to add custom music discs to my friends Minecraft server. I searched all over the internet and found a small abandoned project named JukeboxExtended by @Tajam. I just ported it to the newer versions and started using it. I had a bit of difficulty creating the resource pack tought, and I said to myself, it would be way easier with a custom tool. So I built the first version of the WebUI. As time went on I continued to add new features, until the project couldn't be called a fork anymore. It became so different and so big, it was quite the hassle to mantain.

Of course every big project has some problems, that was the 2.0 update for JEXT-Reborn. I tought of adding into the WebUI a way to connect into the plugin and update those settings from a GUI, making it a lot easier for users to configure the plugin. That worked wonderfully, the problem being it worked only in my end.

Then, with me starting university it became increasingly difficult to work on such a big project including a plugin, a website, a desktop app, and now even a Geyser extension. It took a while but, now the final feature update is here, fixing 2.0 and adding a bunch of new features. I also made the plugin as extensible a possible through an easy to use API, so if someone really wants a new feature, he can create an extension or easily implement it in the plugin directly.

As I said in my previous post, I will continue to publish updates to support new Minecraft updates (even by adding something new related to the update) and bug fixes, however I won't make big content drops like these in the future until further notice. I hope everyone understands.

Everyone, thank you for using this plugin,
Andrew