Bukkit

NOTE: this is a beta release of our 1.7 development branch. Not a stable production release, a beta. There is almost no documentation yet for the many changes included beyond those in the change logs for this and previous 1.7 alpha releases. A few features from the 1.6 branch have been removed and may not be returning. You additionally will not be able to safely downgrade from a 1.7 release back to a 1.6 release. Based on these reasons, this release is not recommended for regular users. That said, since the 1.6 branch is almost ready to be retired, we would like some people further testing this build to catch any remaining problems before making a 1.7 stable release.

Updates specific to the 1.7 branch:

NOTE: For existing users, something you should make sure of:
Chat integration has completely changed as described below. If you were previously using the method of inserting "[FACTION]" into the chat string to be replaced by the relation-colored faction tag (EssentialsChat users, that is probably you), you will need to update this. The basic replacement for the old functionality would be to insert "[factions_relcolor][factions_tag]&f" instead (with the "&f" used to change the text color back to white). You may also want to use "[factions_tag_pr]" (for right-padded) or "[factions_tag_pl]" (for left-padded) in place of "[factions_tag]" of you want padding added.

• New "Access" system to replace old ownership system. Access for any chunk can be granted which allows specific players and/or factions to build, destroy, and fully interact within the chunk. Access can also optionally be denied to normal members of the host faction. See related permissions and command below. (by Brettflan)
• Added Herochat integration. (by Olof)
• New Spout cape system which allows each faction to have their own unique cape for all members. Completely replaces older system which added relation-colored capes to faction leaders. (by Olof)
• Reworked chat completely. New tag-parsing system. Non-monitor-breaking relation colored chat. (by Olof)
• Added a Spout healthbar feature, displaying a colored healthbar over players' heads, under their name. (by Olof)
• Now using automatically generated help system (through /f h). (by Olof)
• A few other minor changes and optimizations.

New chat string tag replacements:
{faction_relcolor} - replaced by relation color (red for enemy, green for member, white for neutral, etc.)
{faction_roleprefix} - replaced by role prefix (** for faction leader, * for faction officer, nothing otherwise)
{faction_title} - replaced by faction title if one exists
{faction_tag} - replaced by faction tag if the player is in a faction, or nothing if factionless
{faction_tagforce} - replaced by faction tag regardless of whether in a faction or not Note that additional formatting can be applied by appending one of the formats listed in "chatSingleFormats". For example, to have the faction tag listed with right padding (extra " " space to right of faction tag if present), you would use the tag {faction_tag_pr}. To have the faction tag left-padded, it would similarly be {faction_tag_pl}.

New conf.json settings:
"chatSetFormat": false, whether Factions will use the chat format below
"chatSetFormatTo": "<{faction_relcolor}§l{faction_roleprefix}§r{faction_relcolor}{faction_tag_pr}§f%s> %s", chat format if above option is enabled
"chatParseTags": true, whether Factions will parse the chat string tag replacements listed in section above
"chatParseTagsColored": true, whether Factions will really use relation coloring when parsing the chat string tag replacements
"chatSingleFormats": { additional formatting which can be appended to chat string tag replacements; ex. to add right-padding to {faction_tag}, you could use "pr" below by changing it to {faction_tag_pr}
"pb": " %s ",
"pl": " %s",
"pr": "%s "
},
"herochatFactionChannelName": "Faction", for HeroChat integration, channel name for faction chat (only faction members will see messages in this channel)
"herochatAllyChannelName": "Allies", for HeroChat integration, channel name for ally chat (only your faction and your allies will see messages in this channel)
"spoutHealthBarUnderNames": true, this and the other settings below cover Spout-displayed healthbars
"spoutHealthBarLeft": "{c}[",
"spoutHealthBarSolid": "|",
"spoutHealthBarBetween": "&8",
"spoutHealthBarEmpty": "|",
"spoutHealthBarRight": "{c}]",
"spoutHealthBarSolidsPerEmpty": 1.0,
"spoutHealthBarColorTag": "{c}",
"spoutHealthBarWidth": 30,
"spoutHealthBarColorUnderQuota": {
"1.0": "&2",
"0.8": "&a",
"0.5": "&e",
"0.4": "&6",
"0.3": "&c",
"0.2": "&4"
},
"spoutCapes": true, whether unique faction-specific capes (through Spout) are enabled
"spoutTerritoryAccessShow": true, whether to show territory access info using Spout ("access granted" or "access restricted")

New permissions:
factions.access - Ability to grant territory access for your faction, if you have the proper "ACCESS" FPerm (defaults to faction leaders and officers only). Included in factions.kit.halfplayer permission kit and above.
factions.access.any - Ability to grant territory access for any faction on the server. Included in factions.kit.mod permission kit and above.
factions.access.view - Ability to view territory access info for your own faction. Included in factions.kit.halfplayer permission kit and above.
factions.cape - required to manage faction capes at all. Included in factions.kit.halfplayer permission kit and above.
factions.cape.* - kit which provides all cape permissions below. Included in factions.kit.halfplayer permission kit and above.
factions.cape.get - required to show the current URL for your faction's cape
factions.cape.set - required to set the URL for your faction's cape
factions.cape.remove - required to remove your faction's cape

New commands:
/f access [view|p|f|player|faction=view] [name=you] - view or change the access information for the chunk you are in. If "view" or nothing is specified, it will simply display the info. If "p" or "player" is specified, a player will be granted access, or removed from the list if they were already granted access. If "f" or "faction" is specified, the same will be done for the specified faction. The name defaults to yourself or your faction if not specified. If your own faction is specified, you will toggle restricted access for the chunk so that normal faction members can be denied access, unless they are in the access list.
/f cape get [faction=your] - show the current URL for the specified faction's cape
/f cape set <url> [faction=your] - set the URL for the specified faction's cape
/f cape rm,rem,remove,del,delete [faction=your] - remove the specified faction's cape

Some /f access command examples:
/f access - view access list, if in your own territory
/f access p SomePlayer - grant access to player "SomePlayer" for the current chunk, or remove them from the access list if already there
/f access f - toggle restricted access for the current chunk (since faction name isn't specified, uses your own faction), assuming you're in your own factions territory

Combined changes from 1.6 branch:

NOTE: For existing users, something you should make sure of:
If you're using Spout, they now have a minimap where we used to default to show the territory faction display. You can switch our territory display to the upper left as a workaround:
/f config spoutTerritoryDisplayPosition 1

• Added fireball/"fire charge" to default territoryDenyUseageMaterials list, to prevent them from being used to set things on fire like flint&steel.
• Optional prevention of Ender pearl exploit, which could be used to clip through doors, glass, and probably a few other things if just the right spot was targeted. New setting "handleExploitEnderPearlClipping" (enabled by default) to determine whether it's prevented or not.
• Optional prevention of obsidian generator exploit, which converts redstone wire to obsidian. New setting "handleExploitObsidianGenerators" (enabled by default) to determine whether it's prevented or not. Some servers might want to disable this prevention, to keep it as a viable obsidian creation method. Thanks to ObGenBlocker and WorldGuard plugins for the prevention method.
• New setting "handleExploitInteractionSpam" (defaults to true). If enabled, players will begin to take injury if they rapidly try interacting with anything in another faction's territory. This is to prevent people from spam-clicking on doors and chests and such in the hopes that they'll get one through. After 10 rapid interaction attempts in a row, every click will cause them damage; the damage amount is a half heart of damage for every 10 clicks (up to 1 heart at 20 clicks, 1.5 hearts at 30, etc.). After the player has stopped trying for 2 seconds, their failed interaction counter will reset.
• New setting "handleExploitTNTWaterlog" (default false/disabled) which, if enabled, will cause TNT which explodes in liquid to actually destroy a single adjacent block in all 6 directions. This will only apply to blocks which can be destroyed by TNT normally, specifically anything other than air, bedrock, water, lava, obsidian, and enchanting tables. The destruction of these blocks will be handled as if they had been mined, dropping the appropriate item. TNT in water/lava doesn't normally destroy any surrounding blocks, which is usually desired behavior. That's the reason this setting is disabled by default. However, it is available because it provides a method to get through waterwalls with enough persistence, and it makes cheap (non-obsidian) TNT cannons require minor maintenance between shots.
• /f show|who command will no longer reveal players as online if they are hidden from the viewer by the Vanish API.
• Double-space (or more) after command alias is no longer accepted, i.e. "f home". Otherwise, command prevention routines (in Factions itself and in other plugins) can be bypassed. For example, preventing the "f home" command wouldn't prevent anyone from using "f home" or "f home" instead.
• Fix for /f power command used on self incorrectly also requiring factions.power.any permission.
• Fix for rare case where faction home location's world being removed or renamed (world with specified name not existing) could lead to NPE.
• Removed our TNT exploit prevention code, and removed our workaround fix code for the bug where half-step placement wasn't detected, since the Bukkit team did finally fix those issues.

New conf.json settings:
"handleExploitEnderPearlClipping": true, enables exploit prevention for ender pearls which otherwise can allow clipping through doors, glass, and other objects
"handleExploitObsidianGenerators": true, enables exploit prevention of obsidian generators which convert redstone wire to obsidian
"handleExploitInteractionSpam": true, enables exploit prevention of people trying to rapidly interact with doors to glitch through, by progressively injuring them after several attempts
"handleExploitTNTWaterlog": false, will cause TNT explosions in liquid to destroy the 6 adjacent blocks if those blocks would normally be destroyed by explosions

BETA release, not yet a stable release.