Bukkit

Version 4.01

Compiled for Bukkit 1.7.2

This replaces version 4.0 Version 4.0 had a line of debug code that didn't show up until the nav-complete portion of the goal handler was tweaked on the Citizens plugin. When this started working correctly the console then started being spammed with 'Navigation Complete' messages. The only difference between this 4.01 and 4.0 is I have removed one line of code. As soon as this is approved I will delete 4.0

Version 3.3

The /gps command was configured to override any competing /gps commands, for the sake of consistancey. If GPS or gpsTowny is being used, use the alternate commands /gpse and /gpst, respectively. Both are my own plugins, so I am entitled to assign which plugin owns the ‘/gps’ command. Postal was first, so….

Distributions, or mass mailings were changed so not to trigger new-mail flags on the last version. This change was not entirely incorporated. While the mailbox sign was fixed not to show new-mail, the yaml database was still being flagged, thus causing undesired new-mail notifications. Now fixed.

More detailed door articulation added to the npc as it navigates through doors. The npc now looks at the door as it opens and closes the door. This appears more natural. This feature requires the absolute latest version of Citizens2.

Owned mailboxes not properly clearing new-mail indicator on Postal sign. Fixed. ‘[Postal_Mail]’ on the top line of a Postal sign’ed mailbox is normally green. When the mailbox contains unread mail, it turns red. This should clear when the chest is opened by a qualified player. Owned mailboxes can only be cleared by the owner (not even an admin can clear it), Server mailboxes may be cleared by anyone.

Waypoint editor expansion. Complementing the recent /move command facilitating mid route moving of waypoints, out of sequence, are two new commands: /insert and /remove. As they imply, these commands may be used anywhere on a route. A good example of where /insert is very valuable is a long, detailed route where the point between door pairs was forgotten. In previous versions of Postal one would have to sequentially backup until the desired part of the route is reached, and add the waypoint, then do the route again.

Also added to the route editor is a waypoint inquiry command which is just the ‘/’ (forward slash) alone. Once invoked, left clicking existing waypoints will report the formal sequence number. Dense and complicated routes sometimes get disorienting, this is a good tool to verify sequence.

The waypoint editor has basic /first /mid and /last commands to roughly position on a route. Complimenting these is a new ‘/pos <sequence number>’ command facilitating precise positioning, instantly via teleport.

/setroute behavior has been modified. If invoked using the proximity sensing by simply invoking it without parameters, near an address, it will only move the player to the last sequence number if the route is not complete, or new. Invoking /setroute with parameters will only move the player closer to the route if he/she beyond visible range of the nearest waypoint on the route, or if the route is not complete. While the sequence control of waypoints is crucial, the editing methods are now not sequential, thus eliminating the need to start players at the end of a route.

Postal was accepting correctly id’d chests past the defined search_dist in the config file. Changed to strictly honor this setting.

New config file setting ‘allowed_geo_proximity’ specifies the maximum distance a player may be away from a Postal object when invoking a command using proximity sensing. Ie: /setroute, /showroute, /setowner….

/setaddr and /setlocal commands changed to enforce placing chest to be the mailbox or mail storage, first. A better practice, and eliminates potential confusion during route definition.

/setroute and /expedite now automatically open the indicated route, if currently closed. Often the dispatcher will close a route while it is being worked on because it is found invalid. Now the finishing of a route or the explicit /expediting of a route implies that the route should be open.

Additional change to /setaddr and /setlocal commands. Sign is placed on the chest immediately upon successful completion of the command. This is another measure designed to further decrease potential confusion about who, or what plugin owns the chest. /setaddr now requires the target chest to be placed in advance, and the player must be within a couple of blocks of the chest. This is the best time for Postal to claim ownership of the chest. There are further restrictions placed on what constitutes a valid chest described below.

In consideration of other plugins that use signs to manage chests, Postal now checks the validity of a target chest before it will attempt to use or manipulate it in any way. if a chest has a sign anywhere on it or adjacent to it, and it does not belong to Postal, Postal will not use it or do anything with it, regardless of what is written on any of the signs. IE: Before using chest, and already known that it is not Postal’s - check N,S,E,W,U, D for a sign and don't use if a sign found. If inventory slots > 27, find other half, and do the same thing.

Added to the /package blacklist is any chest with a sign on it, or adjacent to a sign. This is griefer prevention.

Distributions were unnecessarily being protected. Fixed. Now available to anyone with mailbox access.

Postal shipments not effectively sealed. Fixed. Shipments are inaccessible and unbreakable to everyone unless the original shipper is in hand.

Version 3.25

Geographic distances changed from 2D distances to 3D distances to accommodate accurate proximity readings in structures or caves.

New smart player command '/setowner'. Will automatically determine the Postal object by the number of parameters used with the command. Used with no parameters assumes that the nearest Postal object will relinquish current ownership. Used with one parameter, the parameter is assumed to be a player name and Postal will find the closest post office or address and use it. Two parameters assumes a post-office and player-name. Three parameters assume a two part Postal address and a player name. This command consolidates '/ownerlocal' and '/owneraddr' into one easier-to-use command. '/setowner' also fits nicely into the Postal '/setxxx' family of commands and is easier to remember. The proximity feature is only valid within 10 blocks of the PO or address.

Fixed door sound effect so not to duplicate redundant door open/close effects issued by the watchdog system.

New mail check expanded to, in addition to checking at player join, check new mail for online players at a defined interval. This interval is set in the configuration file and defaults to every five minus (300 seconds). Set to zero to disable this notification. The configuration node is: 'settings.new_mail_secs' Players receive a notification only if there is new, unread mail at an address they own. This is one of the privileges of ownership, Mail sent to a specific player that does not own the receiving address will not be notified. Such mail is still secured, but there will be no notifications. Distributions (junk mail) no longer trigger new-mail flags. The thought is that mass mailings should not be treated the same as personally addressed mail. Besides, such mail eventually expires and could potentially leave phantom new-mail flags set. Last re-organization of mail security left the new-mail clearing mechanism out of the loop. Now fixed.

Npc was not reliably carrying in his hand the book or chest when delivering. Fixed. Like Pickup, the npc shows what he is carrying on delivery.

Missed a line of code that broke the dispatcher on 3.2 Promoted schedules were not being reset, thus preventing the npc from progressing to his next route. There is no point in leaving a version of Postal out that has a flaky delivery system....

Refinement made to player listeners, particularly the player interaction listener to prevent unnecessary security processing of player type npc's (postmen).

New-mail flag now only clears when mailbox owner opens the mailbox. Formerly, anyone opening the mailbox would clear the new-mail flag. Server owned mailboxes still clear when chest is opened by anyone.

New console monitor to observe permission activity on the console. Type 'postal ptalk' at the console to toggle it on and off. Shows the origin of allowed access, where applicable ie: Vault, Bukkit, Towny, or Postal. Postal owner permissions are detailed with everything Postal uses to decide owner access. This should be a big help in debugging permissions as well as understanding what Postal is doing.

Post office chests have been made accessible even when the private mailbox option is set. This gives a Postal user a place to mail letters if they don't own a mailbox. In non-private mode, the default, access is unhindered and players may deposit or retrieve mail items they have access to.

In private mode, post office chests will accept mail, but that is all. They are otherwise locked down to all players but admins and PO owners. Once a letter or shipment is put into a post office chest, like a real mailbox, it may not be taken back out.

Basic security flaw (hole) with double chest mailboxes identified, and fixed. This was the cause of much security confusion. The new permission console helped identify and fix this issue.

Version 3.2 (pulled)

Dynmap stack trace on postal restart. Recursive use of resetting routine not stopped at the appropriate time, now fixed.

Route editor listener priority re-sequenced. Code re-arrangement from a recent version went from a single player interaction listener to two, but priority was not correctly defined. The symptom was an occasional inability to mark waypoints in the route editor.

Door scanner completely re-written. Improvements made to efficiency, accuracy and range.

WG and Towny build permission now required where /package command is used, where applicable. Added for grief prevention.

New config file setting 'Private_mailboxes' can limit general mailbox access to as-needed, or owner privileged. More grief prevention.

General overhaul of mail security system to reflect clearer goals resulting from normal plugin evolution.

Big work done on navigation. Along with the new door scanner, better articulated door navigation was put into place. Replaced the built-in StuckAction handler in Citizens2 with one designed for Postal. This replaces the old, detailed npc watchdog. Npc's quickly recover from most challenges, including door navigation problems without the need to teleport. Along with better navigation controls, the emphasis of the recent navigation work in Postal was efficiency.

The overall speeds have been re-calibrated to match the current version of Citizens. It is recommended that the speed setting in 'config.yml' be set to '1.0'

Version 3.15

Compiled under Java 6, Bukkit 1.6, Citizens2 api 209

Fixed a stack trace involving cached npc's when deleting a post office, hot.

Added /move command to the waypoint editor. Facilitates waypoint relocation, out of sequence.

Also added to waypoint editor, HUD display is an elevation reading for the target address. Compliments the compass to help maintain orientation when laying waypoints from the post office to the address in a 3d situation like a big building, or cave system.

Added /cod command enabling C.O.D. shipments to other players.

New configuration file setting to define the COD surcharge to the normal shipping charge.

Improved color visibility for message system.

New config setting controlling whether waypoints are dynamically set in the ground, or first air block above ground.

Fixed problem using /setlocal when name is a subset of an existing name.

Version 3.1

Major code reorganization and clean up. Citizens2 navigation overhaul. Important navigation settings and switches moved to the configuration file. Option to select Minecraft or new navigation now configurable.

New teleportation command, ‘/go’ consolidates all Postal locations into one command. No parameters infers the central post office. One parameter infers a town or post office location. Two parameters infers a residential address. As always, Postal completes partial names and confirms before invoking. ‘/go’ replaces ‘/gotocentral’, ‘/gotolocal’ and ‘/gotoaddr’, but original commands remain for backward compatability.

Version 3.0

Economy implemented, but defaults to disabled in the config file. It must be turned on to use.

Much work done on navigation. New config option to set to new Citizens navigation. Defaults to original Minecraft navigation.

New navigation reporting switch in the config file. Defaults to off, when on, enough details to find the waypoint triggering extra handling will be displayed on the console.

Version 2.997

Fixed issues present when starting from scratch. This version is not relevant to Postal installations that already have the minimu Version 2.997m startup requirements.

Stack trace caused by exiting the waypoint editor without defining any waypoints - fixed.

Version 2.996

This replaces the previouse 2.995. I forgot to change the internal version number, it was left at 3.0. It was based on 3.0 to make sure all the current improvements were included, but the economy was removed. I'm trying to post a solid, pre economy cut to finish off the 2.x series. There was a bad optimizer setting as well causing a class loading failure - fixed.

Version 2.99

The most recent cut of Postal with the economy work stripped out. It has been successfully tested on various combinations of soft-depend plugins installed and not installed.

/setroute ceases installing the first point and chest, if one was not detected. It is not necessary with the new dispatcher, and was a source of other problems.

/setaddr does not allow the address to have the same name as a post office.

Quitting game while editing route caused a stack trace and loss of player quickbar as well as the route being edited. All fixed.

Set a limit on how close a player needs to be to an address to use the /setroute command without parameters. Player needs to be within 10 blocks of an address.

HUD display added to the route editor using the Scoreboard api. The player designing a route gets real-time updates of distances from the address, the PO and the last waypoint, as well as the total wayponts defined and the name of the address being designed. Postal checks to make sure the ScoreBoard class exists before using it to maintain backwards compatibility. There is also a switch in config.yml allowing the use of it to be turned off. The default is on.

Version 2.965

Work done on dispatcher to make it capable of creating new routes and PO's as well as deleting them, hot. Postal restart is no longer required for these types of changes.

Dynmap support, like the dispatcher, no longer needs to restart Postal to update addresses or PO markers. Changes affecting Dynmap now take place as they occur. Labels for post offices and addresses have a different format when in a Towny town.

Other improvements: /setroute no longer needs parameters. It will automatically select the address the player is closest to. The route editor now clears the quickbar so that you have nothing clunky in your hands while designing routes. It places a compass in the middle slot, which points to the address the player is designing the route for. Exiting the route editor restores the quickbar the way it was.

More geographic awareness implemented to the info listing commands. For example, /plist, without parameters, in addition to listing online players, now shows the distance and the compass heading to each player, as well as the closest Postal address or post office each player is near. The compass is always lined up with Minecraft coordinates to make the compass useful. [F3] is an alternative. Players listed this way only include the ones in the same world.

Version 2.96

Postal log kept out of general player hands to prevent using copies as a trade commodity.

Breaking a target mailbox after the postman left the postoffice was causing a non-serious stack trace. Now handled.

Aliases set up for the often used commands, documented on the help screens found by typing /postal without parameters. Also documented in plugin.yml, the source.

Item shipping with the /package command now includes extended definitions of items that carry details of the item type in the damage integer. Items like potion, that would be received as a water bottle, and colored wool that came as white wool. The written book is a free standing data container holding everything required to re-create the stocked chest it defines.

General tightening up of '/postal restart' to reinitialize all arrays and make sure outlaw goals for deleted npcs are cleared. These un-cleared goals were causing non- fatal, but messy stack traces that were hard to decipher. The cooling time for restart was extended to 10 seconds, from 5 seconds.

Dynamic waypoint adjustment now uses an expanded lookup table of blocks treated like air. ie: tall grass is not air, but it should be treated like air for the purpose of finding the actual waypoint block fed to the npc navigator. There are currently 34 of these types of blocks, up from around 10.

Geographical awareness implemented in commands like /tlist and /alist as well as the helper system designed to help a player locate and complete a desired address. For example, if /alist is entered without a parameter, the closest town will be selected and it's addresses listed instead of being shown a help screen. /tlist with no arguments displays the town list alphabetically as usual, but now includes the towns or post offices in the same world at the bottom of the list, by distance, so the player may be aware of what he/she is close to. The block distance and compass direction to the town are included.

Compass direction info now included in address and post office lists complementing the general, geographic info displayed. The compass directions are given in the standard Minecraft, compass directions [F3], and the compass automatically aligns itself to this coordinate system so that it may be used.

A new command: '/gps <PostOffice> [Address]' and perm node 'postal.gps'. This command sets the player's compass to either a post office location, or a two part address.

Version 2.95

Route and post office closing system implemented a few versions ago refined and expanded. POs or routes opened or closed with the /openxxx and /closexxx commands now stay that way through a server restart. This status is now in the database.

Upon startup, Postal now checks the defined post offices, addresses and central and determines if it has the bare minimum to start. If so, and configured to automatically start, it will proceed. Postal no longer refuses to start if it finds problems like an address without a route. It simply closes the route with a message and continues.

Address listing with /tlist as well as the command infrastructure is now Towny aware and responds to different contexts. Post offices in Towny towns are now considered children of that town. Post offices outside of Towny behave as they always have. What the player sees in messages changes depending on whether he/she is located in a Towny town. Console output reflects the Towny opt_in setting. Opted in clearly shows Postal post offices as children of a particular towny town, or Postal. The two part address remains the same and can be thought of as [PostOffice] and [address] pairs instead of the former [town] and [address]. Post offices in a Towny town will naturally be named something reflecting a part of the town. Outside of Towny, post office names will probably sound more like cities. It makes no difference to Postal. Postal concerns itself mostly with making the address, any address, easy to find, and getting mail and shipments there.

New config setting, 'Setings.Wpnt_hilite_id' contains a block id type, an integer below 256, decimal. This is the block type the waypont editor uses to highlight existing waypoints, and waypoints in progress. The waypoint editor now uses a lookup table containing valid block surfaces for waypoint marking. Nothing else is permitted. The highlighting method has changed. Postal formally marked waypoints with redstone dust. This became problematic in certain situations where the surface would not tolerated it, or an adjacent block like a chest with a sign on it would not permit it since the sign is actually occupying the block above the desired waypoint block.

Postal now tightly controls the block type that may be used to mark waypoints. Highlighting may be safely done by temporarily replacing the marked block with something visible. The default is redstone block. There are no competing entities when the highlight is the surface block itself. The material type as well as the extended data are saved so that the original blocks are restored the way they were upon highlight removal.

This cut of Postal marks a deep integration with Towny. On Towny turf, Postal follows everything appropriate, as defined in Towny. There is nothing to do in Postal for Towny integration other than to opt in the 'config.yml' file. Postal updates itself as mayors and homeowners come and go. Even the names displayed on mailboxes and post office chests are kept current.

Towny owners and town staff automatically have the same privileges of ownership Postal owners have. Growth control based on a percentage of town blocks prevents misuse or abuse of Postal resources. Configurable in the configuration file.

Version 2.94 New soft depends on Towny and WorldGuard.

If WorldGuard or Towny are installed, item shipments may only be accepted in regions that the player has build permissions. This may be overridden with the node 'postal.accept.bypass'

Acceptable mailbox chests now include trapped chests.

New setting in 'config.yml', 'settings.towny'. It defaults to 'false'. When set to true any mailbox determined to be on a Towny plot will have the plot owner's name put on the mailbox. Towny plot owners will automatically enjoy the normal Postal ownership privileges. Unowned Towny plots will revert to 'Server' as the name on the mailbox. This applies only to Towny plots, and will override the Postal /owneraddr setting. Leaving 'settings.towny' at 'false' maintains the current behaviour.

Version 2.93

On server startup, postmen and postmaster cooling settings set to 10 seconds. When all of the postmen have been initialized, the settings in 'config.yml' are applied.

Mailed letter listener modified to not only prioritize the route it is on, but to also take the postman off his break defined by 'settings.postman_cool_sec'. As the number of post offices or towns continue to increase, admins may choose to define longer cooling periods for the postman to spend in the post office. This change will make the length of the postman's break irrelevant to the overall speed of the mail delivery because the postman will interrupt his break to pickup a letter that was mailed.

Postmaster preemptive mail handler modified to cut his break short for the same reason above.

Postal looks for the Citizens api class on startup and aborts with a message if not found instead emitting a stack trace. Of course, if the reason Postal can't find the Citizens class is because it is not installed, CraftBukkit will make a fuss about running a plugin without a declared dependency. :-)

Tweaked door navigation to synchronize with Citizens2 build 760 path'ing refinements.

Stopped making duplicate copy of the shipping label and inserting into the shipping container when /package'ing. It is not necessary anymore since the shipping label, when /accept'ed is stamped as received and placed directly in the player's hand. /refuse still removes original statement from player's hand, stamps it refused, and puts it in the shipment returned to sender.

Replaced deprecated Bukkit, door class with direct, bit manipulations to the state of door blocks.

Version 2.92

Clicking on a postal log formally drops any item the player may have in hand before putting the postal log in the player's hand. This prevents loss of player inventory. The same safety precaution has been applied to shipping labels before they are placed in the player's hand.

New config.yml setting 'lookclose_on_route'. 'true' is the default. 'true' makes the postman aware of other players while walking his route. He will look at the player and appear a little distracted by other players, but stays on route. Seems more human and less programmed. 'false' causes the postman to be more focused, and generally does not acknowledge the existence of players aside from mouse clicks. In the postoffice, waiting for the next route lookclose is turned on regardless of this setting.

Fixed bug with /package command excluding items when itemized on the shipping label. Pages on the written book were exceeding their character capacity and being truncated when many items with long names were on the same page. Item names were also being unnecessarily padded with trailing spaces.

Double chests are now formally rejected as shipping containers.

Stamped statement now replaces the un-accepted statement in player's hand on /accept instead of going into the accepted chest. This facilitates the sending of completely full chests and is probably more intuitive to the player.

/accepted chest no longer identified with a sign when accepted. It is not necessary. It was also, upon opening, being incorrectly labeled as a Postal mailbox.

The general system watchdog was not allowing for extended cooling intervals set for postmen with the settings.postman_cool_sec setting in config.yml. This was fixed by using the value in this setting to make sure the system setting is long enough to allow for anything set here. The individual postmen and postmaster watchdogs are not affected since they have flags indicating cooling periods, periods ignored by the watchdog.

Version 2.9

New softdepend dynmap.

New, full dynmap implementation. May be optionally disabled, but automatically disabled if the dynmap plugin is not installed. Map features separate Postal layer. Labels for post offices and addresses are plotted. Locations for both postmen and postmaster are updated in realtime. Routes are plotted as they are in use, and removed when inactive to reduce clutter. NPC plotting is based on actual position, therefore showing route deviation, if present. All map entities may be clicked to obtain detailed information and realtime statistics.

New 'config.yml' setting 'Dynmap'. Set to 'false' to disable all Dynmap hooks in Postal. Will Prevent Postal from automatically using Dynmap when Dynmap is installed.

Restart sequencing reorganized and hopefully, strengthened up to the point of not needing to be revisited again.

Version 2.8

New command /distr <all/owners> [town] [expiration_days] This is an op or admin tool. It facilitates the instant distribution of a written book in the player's hand to Postal addresses. Distribution may be to all addresses, or just owned addresses. The distribution may be further filtered by a town name. Distributions include a cover page indicating general information including the original title and author of the written book. The title, as delivered will be [Distribution] and the author field will contain a number ie: '1234567890' that may be used to uniquely identify the document. This number also represents the expiration, in Unix time, of the document. This command does not require the Postal dispatcher to be running. Distributions trigger new mail indicators for both player login and mailboxes.

New permission node 'postal.distr'

New setting in 'config,yml'. 'distr_exp_days' Takes a number from 1 to 30 to set the default expiration of distributions. Default value is 7.

Full mail boxes allow mail to take precedence over distributions. If the postman encounters a full mailbox, he will look for distributions to delete. He will make room, deleting oldest distributions first.

Distributions get an expiration date when distributed. This may be 1 to 30 days, real time. The postman checks for expiration each visit, and deletes expired distributions. Unattended mailboxes are therefore managed and kept clean.

Postal NPC's are now managed by the names configured in config.yml instead of strict id numbers received at creation. This makes it possible to automatically clean up shadow postmen left over from a bad server shutdown. This also improves compatability with other Citizens characters and eliminates any special steps with Postal in regards to preserving or saving the other NPC's. Color format characters are part of an NPC name and further help distinguish Postal names from other NPC names.

Bug: opening mailbox by clicking on the chest instead of the sign failing to clear new mail indicator. Fixed.

Version 2.79

Default heartbeat changed back to Synchronous, Asynchronous may be configured in config.yml

New option in config.yml to turn automatic heartbeat calibration on/off.

NPC creation and spawn allowed to retry on handled exception instead of completely restarting Postal.

Version 2.78

Issue where shipment mailed at a post office not properly received into system, fixed.

Dispatcher heartbeat put on a Asynchronous thread.

New config.yml setting: 'prevent_all_npc_despawn' prevents non-Postal NPC's from despawning. These are Citizen2, player type NPC's.

General code clean up and optimization.

Version 2.76

Formally set (and validate) maximum name lengths of post_office, town and player to 15 to match the maximum line length of a sign. Formerly, and a bit informal and not validated, the name length has been declared 14 characters. A player name may actually be 16 characters, as permitted by Minecraft. All of the Postal routines and data storage have been updated to allow for this slightly longer possibility. Postal simply drops the last character of a player name if it is 16 characters and assumes that there will not be any more than one unique completion of similar 16 character names missing the last character.

Postal log now occupies slot 0 of a Postal chest. This new assumption allows Postal to readily find the log without iterating through the entire chest. The postal log format has changed, and the saving of full logs to postal archives has stopped. The new postal log format is one page only instead of 50 pages. The time stamp order has changed from the last stamp going at the end of the book to it being the first. The set of stamps shown on the first page are ordered newest to oldest.

The new postal log location, the new, one page format along with the recent sign id of Postal chests provides a more efficient infrastructure, a hybrid of the sign/book/chest data object and the hierarchical data structure in a yaml format. Much code optimization using this new infrastructure has taken place.

Postal, once per startup, cleans out Postal chests of anything that is not a written book. Obsolete files such as old postal logs and postal archives are also removed.

New mail notification to address owners has been expanded to include a message when the player joins. All owned addresses are scanned for unread mail, and reported. New mail notification on Postal chests has been changed from a redstone torch in front of the mailbox, to highlighting the first line on the Postal sign with red.

Version 2.6

New advanced mailbox detection and labeling system. Once a mailbox is identified by Postal a detailed sign is posted on the front of the mailbox. Postal always looks for a signed chest first. If the sign details match the chest is used. If the signed mailbox is not found, Postal falls back on proximity and/or postal log confirmation. This is a far more efficient method of mailbox detection, and serves to clearly identify mailboxes to the player as well.

Shipments are sign identified as such, making their overall roll in the Postal system clearer.

New mail indicator has been changed. Formerly new mail was indicated by a redstone torch placed in front of the mailbox. This has been changed to the top line of the mail sign turning red. It is normally green, and returns to green once a chest with new mail is opened.

Preemptive mail handling has been expanded to include the PostMaster, or Central postal system servicing local post offices. This replaces the former round-robin, central scheduler and is designed to keep mail moving along efficiently as the number of post offices continue to increase.

Version 2.5

Global searching. /tlist and /plist have been expanded to facilitate global searching by address name or player name. All three of these commands are fully functional in game, or on the console.

/tlist will now take a search parameter. This command will still behave as it always has and alphabetically list the town names without a parameter. The quantity of towns is assumed to always be of a length not requiring any more than an alphabetized list for quick reference. If given a parameter /tlist will now, recursively, search each town on the server for addresses matching the search parameter and list them. '/tlist *' will list, alphabetically, every address on the server.

/alist is not effected. It will still attempt to complete a town name and list all the addresses in the town, or display town names close to the search parameter.

/plist will still quickly list players names that have been on the server matching the search parameter. However, if the search parameter is enough to uniquely complete a player name, Postal will globally search all of the postal towns and addresses for player ownership. Any Post office or town owned by the matching player name will be listed.

Player teleporter problem fixed. Player sometimes arrived before the world blocks did and allowed the player to fall until the blocks showed up. This may be caused by the target being in an unloaded chunk, or a simple timing issue between player and block appearance. The solution seems to be to call for chunk load while delaying player slightly. An additional reality check by Postal verifies actual player position after teleport, and follow up with habitability check and final reposition if needed.

Uniform components have been moved to 'config.yml' for both the postmaster and local postman. Item id's are required and will be checked for validity. Invalid id's will default to nothing.

New statistics holders for the post office portion of the dispatcher, called the queue. cem_time is stamped each time the post office is visited by the postmaster. cen_count keeps a running count of visits. cen_interval holds the time in seconds between visits.

Item shipping implemented with the addition of three, new player commands. /package, /accept and /refuse. /package <town> <address> [player] creates a shipping label for the chest the player is standing next to. The shipping label contains a complete list of the items and quantities in the chest. A copy is placed in the player's hand, and another copy is placed in the chest. This shipping label may be treated like any other addressed, mailable book. It may be re-addressed with /addr or /att. To ship the chest the shipping label is simply placed in a designated mailbox. When it is picked up by the postman, the chest will vanish and be in the postal system.

On delivery, the recipient may /accept the shipment or /refuse it. To accept, the recipient, with the shipping label in hand, walks to where the chest should be placed and enters the /accept command. The shipment will appear directly in front of the player. Chests will automatically stack if there is already one there.

To refuse a shipment the player simply enters /refuse with the shipping label in hand. The shipment will be immediately returned to the sender. It will appear exactly where the sender packed it, or stacked if there is another chest has been placed there since it was shipped.

A personal message may be included in the compiled shipping label by including a written book titled 'statement' in the chest to be shipped. The text in this book will be included after the line item details of the chest contents. This book will also be replaced by the formal shipping label.

Version 2.1

Improvements to hot route editing using the new route closing capability.

Four new commands, console and player to control the open/close status of post office and routes. /openlocal, /openaddr, /closelocal, /closeaddr. Changes made by these commands remain effective until Postal is restarted. Even though a local post office is closed the Postmaster is still servicing it. Books may still be mailed at the post office and they will be processed normally. Mail may also be picked up at the closed post office. It just won't be delivered to residences, nor will mail be picked up at residences. These new commands require administrative privileges or ownership rights to use.

New scheduling control. Post offices may be opened and closed, hot. Individual routes may be similarly controlled. Provides increased resolution for in-game, console or outside control. This allows all routes to be individually controlled. This will have a place in the coming economy implementation as well as provide a way for other apps to influence the Postal dispatching. There is a new set of commands detailed above.

new 'config.yml' settings 'Join_message' and 'Residence_cool_ticks'. 'Join_message' is the message the players see when joining. Accepts standard color codes, and variable %player% expands to the name of the player joining. May be set to ' ' to skip message entirely. 'Residence_cool_ticks' is the amount of time, in ticks the postman pauses at each residence on his round.

Menu displayed when entering 'postal' reorganized to provide a more relevant list of commands based on the players permissions or ownership. There are now three distinct menus; player, owner and admin. Players get a menu designed for them. Any player that owns a route or post office will get the owner's menu. Admins get the full list.

Added '/first', '/mid' and '/last' commands to waypoint editor. Use to quickly position player along a route.

Bug in 'postal cstalk' fixed. The wrong spawn location was being reported. The actual, recorded location was correct, however.

Three new settings in 'config.yml': 'Postman_cool_sec', 'Central_cool_sec', 'Heart_beat_ticks'. 'Postman_cool_sec' is used to configure the amount of time, in seconds, the postman stays in the post office in between routes. 'Central_cool_sec' is the amount of time the postmaster stays at each post office during his rounds.

'Heart_beat_ticks' is the Postal heart beat interval. Anything entered by the user in this field will be used as a starting point for Postal. Postal calibrates itself and saves the calculated result there.

Dispatcher layout in 'config.yml' has been reorganized and slightly refactored. Interval field has been added for future use.

Static chunks are no longer stored in 'config.yml' They are now held in a memory array.

Postal now scans all residential mailboxes for outgoing mail when it starts up,or is restarted. Postal also listens for new mail and expedites the route with new mail. However, when the Postal is restarted it rebuilds the dispatcher from scratch and starts all routes from the top. Expedited routes containing mail were lost during the rebuild resulting in the temporary loss of the preemptive mail-handling of the system. Scanning residential mailboxes as it re-builds the dispatcher restores waiting mail to the top of the queue.

Three more 'config.yml' strings: Chat_onroute, Chat_postoffice and Chat_collision. What the NPC says during the implied contact. Variable %player% in the string will be expanded to the player name making contact. These strings accept the standard '$' color codes.

/alist command now displays the time it takes for the postman to walk each route.

Added two more 'config.yml' switches; 'allow_monster_spawn' and 'chunk_overlap'. The first switch, when set to 'false' (default), will prevent monsters from spawning along postal routes, post offices and residences serviced by the post office. This is, technically, the chunks monitored by the Postal chunk manager. The chunk overlap switch makes it possible to expand the managed area if desired. The default is 0, the minimum required by the postal system to function. The maximum is 10. New console command 'postal chunks' displays the size of the chunk pool. It complements the chunk overlap switch as a way to view the effect of different values.

Version 1.9

Recent feature added to dependency Citizens2 had the NPC's despawn when near any chunks that were unloaded. This typically happens when live players leave an area. The Postal watchdog was compensating for this by nudging the NPC's back to existence. Now, if a postal worker is targeted by such a despawn instruction, the event is canceled. There are no more route interruptions caused by the simple absence of live witnesses.

Route editor. This editor has been modified to be more like the Citizens2 path editor by implementing both mouse buttons. Left click marks a waypoint, right click undoes the last waypoint. Further, double clicking on the final waypoint block exits the editor. The editor will not mark the same block more than once in a row. Click the same block as many times as you want, it will only record once. Double click it and you exit the editor with that last block as the end of the route. Typing difficult commands in the waypoint editor is no longer necessary. A new command processor dedicated to the person in the route editor is in place. Even though the new mouse navigation eliminates the need to type any commands while editing, they are still available, and no longer require the preface: '/setroute'. Instead of '/setroute exit', it is now just '/exit'. The same is true for /new and /undo. The route editor will not allow any other interaction other than route editing while in the editor, nor will it let you forget that you are in the editor. It will also exit automatically if the user quits while in an editing session.

Redstone dust is now used to highlight waypoints while in the route editor. When editing an existing route, existing waypoints are highlited, and the player is teleported to the last waypoint. Right clicking near the end waypoint removes it without moving the player, /undo removes it and advances the player to the new, route end. Right click as you are laying forward waypoints and you will get a distance reading relative to the last waypoint behind you. Double (left) clicking the final waypoint exits the editor and removes the waypoint highlighting.

Listeners have been reorganized and consolidated. The only listeners normally left on are for inventory (mail) control and management, and player interaction - item and chest security. Listeners used for route editing are only on when in use. They are turned off when exiting the route editor.

Sign identification of mailbox chests. Was changed from a simple [mail] label to a more specific [address_name] label on version 1.8 The id algorithm was relaxed slightly to accommodate names longer than a sign line will permit. The text between the brackets may be less than the full length of the name, as long as it matches, case insensitive. The two brackets are mandatory. It is not unusual for there to be other copies of the address name nearby. The brackets serve to distinguish it as a mailbox designator.

Both ends of a route have definitions that can seem slightly ambiguous or confusing. Routes start at the local post office with waypoint 0, the postman's first step. The route ends in front of the mailbox at the residence. This has the highest waypoint number. While there are the two route endpoints indicating where the local post office is, as well as the residence location, there are also separate, and independent designations that are very similar; /setlocal, and /setaddr.

This ambiguity on the residence end has already been addressed by automatically synchronizing the /setaddr location with the final waypoint set using /setroute. /setaddr may not be invoked after a route is defined, therefore eliminating any possible re-set errors later on. /setaddr has as it's main purpose, the careful and deliberate naming of a new address and approximate location, and is the admin's tool. /setroute is the primary tool used by a owner/resident, and remains flexible, allowing the resident to be blissfully unaware of any of these location distinctions. Nor anyone else, for that matter (except the developer).

Back to the post office end of a route. It was still possible to screw up the route system by re-setting the local post office location erroneously after a set of routes for it is in place. The fix was easy enough - just reset it correctly. The post office end is more complicated than the residence end because it is common to all of the routes. You can't move the post office without redoing all of the routes it services. So, this has been tightened up to protect us from ourselves. /setlocal may still be used to reset the formal location for the local post office, but the user is not allowed to screw things up anymore. The location defined by /setlocal is the spot where postman stands in between routes. It should be near waypoint 0 for each and every route connected to the post office. /setlocal now verifies that the new position is close enough to each route start, or it won't allow the change. It will tell you why, however. It might be just one errant route causing a problem. It is also a diagnostic tool.

New command /showroute, both player and console. Usage is '/showroute <town> <address>' Use it to highlight waypoints on a route with redstone dust. The waypoints remain highlighted for a minute or so, and them are cleared.

New console monitor toggle cstalk. Useage: 'postal cstalk'. Use to monitor the regular chest seeking activity by the npc's Shows what was found, selected and why.

Fixed bug with the schedule promoter. When using /setroute to create a new route it will automatically push the schedule of that route forward so the edited changes may be immediately observed. /setroute is also used to create new routes. New routes are not live until the next Postal restart. The schedule promoter was not checking to see if the route was active before trying to promote it, causing a fault.

New command confirm mechanism affecting most of the commands, player and console. When invoking a command, the user is now presented with a message indicating specifically what it is going to do. And, the user is asked to enter a '/' to confirm. Postal does extensive command completion in an endeavor to minimize user typing. Just a few letters of a name may expand to a complete, 16 character name if Postal can determine uniqueness. This confirm mechanism makes it possible to take full advantage of Postal name completing.

Version 1.8

Fixed bug caused by undo'ing past waypoint 0 using /setroute. Attempting to undo past the first waypoint now automatically invokes the equivalent of '/setroute new'

Fixed minor bug when placing a redstone torch, new-mail indicator in front of a chest that already had one. Caused subsequent placements to unattended chest to litter area with unplaced torches.

Require Postal to be stopped before allowing post office or address deletion. No longer uses name completion for town or address names when deleting. Requires names to be typed out, completely and accurately, although not case sensitive.

Change 'postal expedite' command to straight 'expedite', both player and console.

New command 'plist <string match>' It lists player names matching a search string, case insensitive. It compliments existing commands /tlist and /alist to help players address and direct mail efficiently. Postal commands such as /addr, /att, /owneraddr and /ownerlocal that may use live player names, use the same name completion methods for the player parameter.

Existing commands, not implemented /owneraddr and /ownerlocal are now implemented. These are used to establish, or define player ownership of specific addresses or local post offices. These commands also remove ownership designation when 'none' is used as the player parameter. They also provide a general association of a specific player to specific address(es). For example, mail sent to an address to the attention of 'current resident' may still be associated with a player if the address belongs to a player. The player can be informed of the delivery, and there are economy options that will eventually com