PaperMC is happy you're willing to contribute to our projects. We are usually very lenient with all submitted PRs, but there are still some guidelines you can follow to make the approval process go more smoothly.
Paper will routinely modify your PR, whether it's a quick rebase or to take care of any minor nitpicks we might have. Often, it's better for us to solve these problems for you than make you go back and forth trying to fix them yourself.
Unfortunately, if you use an organization for your PR, it prevents Paper from modifying it. This requires us to manually merge your PR, resulting in us closing the PR instead of marking it as merged.
We much prefer to have PRs show as merged, so please do not use repositories on organizations for PRs.
See isaacs/github#1681 for more information on the issue.
To get started with PRing changes, you'll need the following software, most of
which can be obtained in (most) package managers such as apt
(Debian / Ubuntu;
you will most likely use this for WSL), homebrew
(macOS / Linux), and more:
git
(packagegit
everywhere);- A Java 21 or later JDK (packages vary, use Google/DuckDuckGo/etc.).
- Adoptium has builds for most operating systems.
- Paper requires JDK 21 to build, however, makes use of Gradle's Toolchains feature to allow building with only JRE 11 or later installed. (Gradle will automatically provision JDK 21 for compilation if it cannot find an existing install).
If you're on Windows, check the section on WSL.
If you're compiling with Docker, you can use Adoptium's
eclipse-temurin
images like so:
# docker run -it -v "$(pwd)":/data --rm eclipse-temurin:21.0.3_9-jdk bash
Pulling image...
root@abcdefg1234:/# javac -version
javac 21.0.3
Paper is mostly patches and extensions to Spigot. These patches/extensions are split into different directories which target certain parts of the code. These directories are:
Paper-API
- Modifications toSpigot-API
/Bukkit
;Paper-MojangAPI
- An API for Mojang's Brigadier;Paper-Server
- Modifications toSpigot
/CraftBukkit
.
Because the entire structure is based on patches and git, a basic understanding of how to use git is required. A basic tutorial can be found here: https://git-scm.com/docs/gittutorial.
Assuming you have already forked the repository:
- Clone your fork to your local machine;
- Type
./gradlew applyPatches
in a terminal to apply the changes from upstream. On Windows, replace the./
with.\
at the beginning for allgradlew
commands; - cd into
Paper-Server
for server changes, andPaper-API
for API changes.
Paper-Server
and Paper-API
aren't git repositories in the traditional sense:
base
points to the unmodified source before Paper patches have been applied.- Each commit after
base
is a patch.
Adding patches to Paper is very simple:
- Modify
Paper-Server
and/orPaper-API
with the appropriate changes; - Type
git add .
inside these directories to add your changes; - Run
git commit
with the desired patch message; - Run
./gradlew rebuildPatches
in the main directory to convert your commit into a new patch; - PR the generated patch file(s) back to this repository.
Your commit will be converted into a patch that you can then PR into Paper.
❗ Please note that if you have some specific implementation detail you'd like to document, you should do so in the patch message or in comments.
Modifying previous patches is a bit more complex:
This method works by temporarily resetting your HEAD
to the desired commit to
edit it using git rebase
.
❗ While in the middle of an edit, you will not be able to compile unless you also reset the opposing module(s) to a related commit. In the API's case, you must reset the Server, and reset the API if you're editing the Server. Note also that either module may not compile when doing so. This is not ideal nor intentional, but it happens. Feel free to fix this in a PR to us!
- If you have changes you are working on, type
git stash
to store them for later;- You can type
git stash pop
to get them back at any point.
- You can type
- Type
git rebase -i base
;- It should show something like this in the text editor you get.
- If your editor does not have a "menu" at the bottom, you're using
vim
.
If you don't know how to usevim
and don't want to learn, enter:q!
and press enter. Before redoing this step, doexport EDITOR=nano
for an easier editor to use.
- Replace
pick
withedit
for the commit/patch you want to modify, and "save" the changes;- Only do this for one commit at a time.
- Make the changes you want to make to the patch;
- Type
git add .
to add your changes; - Type
git commit --amend
to commit;- Make sure to add
--amend
or else a new patch will be created. - You can also modify the commit message and author here.
- Make sure to add
- Type
git rebase --continue
to finish rebasing; - Type
./gradlew rebuildPatches
in the root directory;- This will modify the appropriate patches based on your commits.
- PR your modified patch file(s) back to this repository.
If you are simply editing a more recent commit or your change is small, simply making the change at HEAD and then moving the commit after you have tested it may be easier.
This method has the benefit of being able to compile to test your change without messing with your HEADs.
- Make your change while at HEAD;
- Make a temporary commit. You don't need to make a message for this;
- Type
git rebase -i base
, move (cut) your temporary commit and move it under the line of the patch you wish to modify; - Change the
pick
to the appropriate action:f
/fixup
: Merge your changes into the patch without touching the message.s
/squash
: Merge your changes into the patch and use your commit message and subject.
- Type
./gradlew rebuildPatches
in the root directory;- This will modify the appropriate patches based on your commits.
- PR your modified patch file(s) back to this repository.
- Make your change while at HEAD;
- Make a fixup commit.
git commit -a --fixup <hashOfPatchToFix>
;- You can also use
--squash
instead of--fixup
if you want the commit message to also be changed. - You can get the hash by looking at
git log
orgit blame
; your IDE can assist you too. - Alternatively, if you only know the name of the patch, you can do
git commit -a --fixup "Subject of Patch name"
.
- You can also use
- Rebase with autosquash:
git rebase -i --autosquash base
. This will automatically move your fixup commit to the right place, and you just need to "save" the changes. - Type
./gradlew rebuildPatches
in the root directory;- This will modify the appropriate patches based on your commits.
- PR your modified patch file(s) back to this repository.
Steps to rebase a PR to include the latest changes from master
.
These steps assume the origin
remote is your fork of this repository and upstream
is the official PaperMC repository.
- Pull the latest changes from upstreams master:
git checkout master && git pull upstream master
. - Checkout feature/fix branch and rebase on master:
git checkout patch-branch && git rebase master
. - Apply updated patches:
./gradlew applyPatches
. - If there are conflicts, fix them.
- If your PR creates new patches instead of modifying existing ones, in both the
Paper-Server
andPaper-API
directories, ensure your newly-created patch is the last commit by either:- Renaming the patch file with a large 4-digit number in front (e.g. 9999-Patch-to-add-some-new-stuff.patch), and re-applying patches.
- Running
git rebase --interactive base
and moving the commits to the end.
- Rebuild patches:
./gradlew rebuildPatches
. - Commit modified patches.
- Force push changes:
git push --force
.
We'll accept changes that make sense. You should be able to justify their existence, along with any maintenance costs that come with them. Using obfuscation helpers aids in the maintenance costs. Remember that these changes will affect everyone who runs Paper, not just you and your server.
While we will fix minor formatting issues, you should stick to the guide below when making and submitting changes.
All modifications to non-Paper files should be marked. The one exception to this is when modifying javadoc comments, which should not have these markers.
- You need to add a comment with a short and identifiable description of the patch:
// Paper start - <COMMIT DESCRIPTION>
- The comments should generally be about the reason the change was made, what it was before, or what the change is.
- After the general commit description, you can add additional information either
after a
;
or in the next line.
- Multi-line changes start with
// Paper start - <COMMIT DESCRIPTION>
and end with// Paper end - <COMMIT DESCRIPTION>
. - One-line changes should have
// Paper - <COMMIT DESCRIPTION>
at the end of the line.
Here's an example of how to mark changes by Paper:
entity.getWorld().dontBeStupid(); // Paper - Was beStupid(), which is bad
entity.getFriends().forEach(Entity::explode);
entity.updateFriends();
// Paper start - Use plugin-set spawn
// entity.getWorld().explode(entity.getWorld().getSpawn());
Location spawnLocation = ((CraftWorld)entity.getWorld()).getSpawnLocation();
entity.getWorld().explode(new BlockPosition(spawnLocation.getX(), spawnLocation.getY(), spawnLocation.getZ()));
// Paper end - Use plugin-set spawn
We generally follow the usual Java style (aka. Oracle style), or what is programmed into most IDEs and formatters by default. There are a few notes, however:
- It is fine to go over 80 lines as long as it doesn't hurt readability.
There are exceptions, especially in Spigot-related files - When in doubt or the code around your change is in a clearly different style, use the same style as the surrounding code.
- Usage of the
var
keyword is heavily discouraged, as it makes reading patch files a lot harder and can lead to confusion during updates due to changed return types. The only exception to this is if a line would otherwise be way too long/filled with hard to parse generics in a case where the base type itself is already obvious
When adding new imports to a class in a file not created by the current patch, use the fully qualified class name instead of adding a new import to the top of the file. If you are using a type a significant number of times, you can add an import with a comment. However, if its only used a couple of times, the FQN is preferred to prevent future patch conflicts in the import section of the file.
import org.bukkit.event.Event;
// don't add import here, use FQN like below
public class SomeEvent extends Event {
public final org.bukkit.Location newLocation; // Paper - add location
}
Sometimes, vanilla or CraftBukkit code already contains a field, method, or type you want to access
but the visibility is too low (e.g. a private field in an entity class). Paper can use access transformers
to change the visibility or remove the final modifier from fields, methods, and classes. Inside the build-data/paper.at
file, you can add ATs that are applied when you ./gradlew applyPatches
. You can read about the format of ATs
here.
ATs should be included in the patch file which requires them within the commit message. Do not commit any changes to the
build-data/paper.at
file, just use it to initially change the visibility of members until you have finalized what you
need. Then, in the commit message for the patch which requires the ATs, add a header at the bottom of the commit message
before any co-authors. It should look like the following after you ./gradlew rebuildPatches
.
From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jake Potrebic <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2022 22:20:16 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Paper config files
This patch adds Paper configuration files.
Access transformers for this patch are below, but before the co-authors.
== AT ==
public org.spigotmc.SpigotWorldConfig getBoolean(Ljava/lang/String;Z)Z
public net.minecraft.world.level.NaturalSpawner SPAWNING_CATEGORIES
Co-authored-by: Jason Penilla <[email protected]>
diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
...
When submitting patches to Paper, we may ask you to add notes to the patch header. While we do not require it for all changes, you should add patch notes when the changes you're making are technical, complex, or require an explanation of some kind. It is very likely that your patch will remain long after we've all forgotten about the details of your PR; patch notes will help us maintain it without having to dig back through GitHub history looking for your PR.
These notes should express the intent of your patch, as well as any pertinent technical details we should keep in mind long-term. Ultimately, they exist to make it easier for us to maintain the patch across major version changes.
If you add a message to your commit in the Paper-Server
/Paper-API
directories, the rebuild patches script will handle these patch notes
automatically as part of generating the patch file. If you are not
extremely careful, you should always just squash
or amend
a patch (see the
above sections on modifying patches) and rebuild.
Editing messages and patches by hand is possible, but you should patch and rebuild afterwards to make sure you did it correctly. This is slower than just modifying the patches properly after a few times, so you will not really gain anything but headaches from doing it by hand.
Underneath is an example patch header/note:
From 02abc033533f70ef3165a97bfda3f5c2fa58633a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Shane Freeder <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2017 00:29:07 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] revert serverside behavior of keepalives
This patch intends to bump up the time that a client has to reply to the
server back to 30 seconds as per pre 1.12.2, which allowed clients
more than enough time to reply potentially allowing them to be less
temperamental due to lag spikes on the network thread, e.g. that caused
by plugins that are interacting with netty.
We also add a system property to allow people to tweak how long the server
will wait for a reply. There is a compromise here between lower and higher
values, lower values will mean that dead connections can be closed sooner,
whereas higher values will make this less sensitive to issues such as spikes
from networking or during connections flood of chunk packets on slower clients,
at the cost of dead connections being kept open for longer.
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/minecraft/server/PlayerConnection.java b/src/main/java/net/minecraft/server/PlayerConnection.java
index a92bf8967..d0ab87d0f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/minecraft/server/PlayerConnection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/minecraft/server/PlayerConnection.java
While rarely needed, obfuscation helpers are sometimes useful when it comes to unmapped local variables, or poorly named method parameters. In an effort to make future updates easier on ourselves, Paper tries to use obfuscation helpers wherever it makes sense. The purpose of these helpers is to make the code more readable and maintainable. These helpers should be made easy to inline by the JVM wherever possible.
An example of an obfuscation helper for a local variable:
double d0 = entity.getX(); final double fromX = d0; // Paper - OBFHELPER
// ...
this.someMethod(fromX); // Paper
While they may not always be done in exactly the same way, the general goal is always to improve readability and maintainability. Use your best judgment and do what fits best in your situation.
To use a configurable value in your patch, add a new field in either the
GlobalConfiguration
or WorldConfiguration
classes (inside the
io.papermc.paper.configuration
package). Use GlobalConfiguration
if a value
must remain the same throughout all worlds, or the latter if it can change
between worlds. World-specific configuration options are preferred whenever
possible.
This is adding a new miscellaneous setting that doesn't seem to fit in other categories. Try to check and see if an existing category (inner class) exists that matches whatever configuration option you are adding.
public class GlobalConfiguration {
// other sections
public class Misc extends ConfigurationPart {
// other settings
public boolean lagCompensateBlockBreaking = true;
public boolean useDimensionTypeForCustomSpawners = false;
public int maxNumOfPlayers = 20; // This is the new setting
}
}
You set the type of the setting as the field type, and the default value is the
initial field value. The name of the setting defaults to the snake-case of the
field name, so in this case it would be misc.max-num-of-players
. You can use
the @Setting
annotation to override that, but generally just try to set the
field name to what you want the setting to be called.
If you added a new global config value, you can access it in the code just by doing
int maxPlayers = GlobalConfiguration.get().misc.maxNumOfPlayers;
Generally for global config values you will use the fully qualified class name,
io.papermc.paper.configuration.GlobalConfiguration
since it's not imported in
most places.
If you are adding a new world config value, you must have access to an instance
of the net.minecraft.world.level.Level
which you can then access the config by doing
int maxPlayers = level.paperConfig().misc.maxNumOfPlayers;
All changes to the GlobalConfiguration
and WorldConfiguration
files
should be done in the commit that created them. So do an interactive rebase
or fixup to apply just those changes to that commit, then add a new commit
that includes the logic that uses that option in the server somewhere.
The Paper project has a test-plugin
module for easily testing out API changes
and additions. To use the test plugin, enable it in test-plugin.settings.gradle.kts
,
which will be generated after running Gradle at least once. After this, you can edit
the test plugin, and run a server with the plugin using ./gradlew runDev
(or any
of the other Paper run tasks).
To build and install the Paper APIs and Server to your local Maven repository, do the following:
- Run
./gradlew publishToMavenLocal
in the base directory.
If you use Gradle to build your plugin:
- Add
mavenLocal()
as a repository. Gradle checks repositories in the order they are declared, so if you also have the Paper repository added, put the local repository above Paper's. - Make sure to remove
mavenLocal()
when you are done testing, see the Gradle docs for more details.
If you use Maven to build your plugin:
- If you later need to use the Paper-API, you might want to remove the jar
from your local Maven repository.
If you use Windows and don't usually build using WSL, you might not need to do this.
By default, Paper (and upstream) only import files we make changes to. If you
would like to make changes to a file that isn't present in Paper-Server
's
source directory, you just need to add it to our import script ran during the
patching process.
- Save (rebuild) any patches you are in the middle of working on! Their progress will be lost if you do not;
- Identify the name(s) of the file(s) you want to import.
- A complete list of all possible file names can be found at
./Paper-Server/.gradle/caches/paperweight/mc-dev-sources/net/minecraft/
. You might find MappingViewer useful if you need to translate between Mojang and Spigot mapped names.
- A complete list of all possible file names can be found at
- Open the file at
./build-data/dev-imports.txt
and add the name of your file to the script. Follow the instructions there; - Re-patch the server
./gradlew applyPatches
; - Edit away!
❗ This change is temporary! DO NOT COMMIT CHANGES TO THIS FILE!
Once you have made your changes to the new file, and rebuilt patches, you may undo your changes todev-imports.txt
.
Any file modified in a patch file gets automatically imported, so you only need this temporarily to import it to create the first patch.
To undo your changes to the file, type git checkout build-data/dev-imports.txt
.
Well, quite simple: You add [ci skip]
to the start of your commit subject.
This case most often applies to changes to files like README.md
, this very
file (CONTRIBUTING.md
), the LICENSE.md
file, and so forth.
This only applies if you're running Windows. If you're running a prior Windows release, either update to Windows 10/11 or move to macOS/Linux/BSD.
In order to speed up patching process on Windows, it's recommended you get WSL
2. This is available in Windows 10 v2004, build 19041 or higher. (You can check
your version by running winver
in the run window (Windows key + R)). If you're
using an out of date version of Windows 10, update your system with the
Windows 10 Update Assistant or Windows 11 Update Assistant.
To set up WSL 2, follow the information here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
You will most likely want to use the Ubuntu apps. Once it's set up, install the
required tools with sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install $TOOL_NAMES -y
. Replace $TOOL_NAMES
with the packages found in the
requirements. You can now clone the repository and do
everything like usual.
❗ Do not use the
/mnt/
directory in WSL! Instead, mount the WSL directories in Windows like described here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/filesystems#view-your-current-directory-in-windows-file-explorer