Show HN: Pumpkin – A Modern Minecraft server written in Rust

Love the idea. Especially as a learning example. Always fun to learn a language by implementing a popular game.

Am confused by these two lines. Maybe it is just difference between the 'goal' and the 'current state'.

Goal:

"Compatibility: Supports the latest Minecraft server version and adheres to vanilla game mechanics. "

But NOT:

"Be a drop-in replacement for vanilla or other servers "

Will it be a replacement for Vanilla or not?

Compatibility: refers to the ability for client of the latest mincraft server version to be able to connect to the server (pumpkin) unmodified with all mechanics working.

Drop-in replacement: refer to the ability of a server operator to simply exchange the current installation/executable of the server (be vanilla, paper, cuberite, etc...) for pumpkin while maintaining data, configuration, scripts and mods installed.

edit: grammar

Tell you the truth, that doesn't help clarify to me much.

If it is compatible, then can't I 'drop it in'.

They sound like they are saying the same thing.

It is compatible so clients can connect to the server and be fully operational, and thus, I should be able to drop in this server, and use it as a server?

How can it be compatible if it doesn't maintain data, configuration, etc..

Edit: or is this about Pumpkin files. Pumpkin will maintain it's own files, data, configuration. So it can't just use existing Minecraft data files.

So if it was a new world, Pumpkin would generate new pumpkin formatted files. But couldn't just 'drop it in' on an existing world and use the existing Minecraft data files.

Not sure of long term viability as far as effort, but if it is files, couldn't a converter from MineCraft to Pumpkin file structure, make the server 'drop in'?

I would say that Minecraft servers by some qualities are really hard to implement (for example generate world as Java would - using Java's random number generator to generate exactly the same world in Rust) or even impossible. But other usages, like walking through existing world with 1000 of your colleagues might be worth of writing a very fast but not a "drop in replacement" server. Or a massive minigame maybe?