Minecraft Server Config#

If you have experience of Minecraft Servers and want to make changes to the defaults used by MCIWB then read on.

Configuration of the default server#

Your server installation is created in $HOME/mciwb-server if you want to change the world settings then you can go into that folder and alter the server.properties.

Perform the following to pick up the changes:

mciwb stop
mciwb start

The options of mciwb start (--port, --password, --folder and --minecraft-version) only take effect when it creates the server container. mciwb stop removes the container, so while it exists mciwb start starts it with the settings it was created with, and warns about any options that differ. Run mciwb stop first to change them.

The RCON password#

mciwb talks to the server over RCON, which needs a password. mciwb start sets the server’s password, and the other commands (shell, run, backup, restore and render) must use the same one. Every one of these commands takes the password from the first of these that is given:

  1. --password PASSWORD (or --passwd) on the command line;

  2. --password-file FILE (or --passwd-file): the first line of FILE;

  3. the MCIWB_PASSWORD environment variable;

  4. default_pass.

The default is fine for a server that only you can reach. To choose your own password, put it in a file that only you can read, or set MCIWB_PASSWORD in your shell:

echo 'my_password' > ~/.mciwb-password
chmod 600 ~/.mciwb-password
mciwb start --password-file ~/.mciwb-password
mciwb run build.py --password-file ~/.mciwb-password

export MCIWB_PASSWORD='my_password'
mciwb start
mciwb run build.py

Warning

Avoid --password: any user on the same computer can read a command line, for example with ps. It still works, for compatibility.

mciwb never prints or logs the password, even with --debug.

Minecraft version#

mciwb start runs the Minecraft Java Edition release that this version of MCIWB was tested with, currently 26.3. This is the release that the Item enum of block and item names comes from (mcwb.MINECRAFT_VERSION). The server runs in the itzg/minecraft-server container image, see MINECRAFT_VERSION and SERVER_IMAGE in mciwb/server.py.

Your Minecraft client must run the same release as the server. If the Minecraft Launcher’s “Latest release” is newer, add an installation for release 26.3 in the Launcher’s “Installations” tab and play with that.

To run a different release, pass it to mciwb start. mciwb stop removes the server container, so the new release is used the next time the server starts:

mciwb stop
mciwb start --minecraft-version 26.3

Your world is kept in $HOME/mciwb-server and is upgraded when a newer release opens it. Worlds cannot be downgraded, so take a backup first (see Backups of mciwb-server).

Running your own Server#

TODO

Backups of your own custom server#

TODO