Is is possible to create a plugin that would update all other plugins/bukkit? Or does it update itself? I have used bukkit for a very short time and I'm still a bit curious on this.
It could be done, but how will you make sure everything is compatible? Updating automatically on a live server is a pretty bad idea.
Plugin management will eventually be done via the Fill system. That will simplify the process of updating plugins.
I think Bukkit should have a thing in the system where it goes threw all plugins and checks for any change in the coding of the plugins. It would save people tons of time and then the plugin could just update itself when starting the server. Just a thought.
Again that would only end badly as new plugin has a requirement for a new bukkit and new bukkit doesn't have to work with any plugin for a while.
Every plugin should have an update-url specified in plugin.yml inside a jar. Bukkit would then check that URL for information, for example, in YML format (i see that u all love it): http://johnythegeek.com/plugin/update.yml In that file the author will place an info like: - is the plugin ready for xyz bukkit relase - list of dependencies If first condition is met, and all dependencies (hard/soft) are also ready and up to date - do update. That would be a good starting point for standardization of bukkit plugins. What is now could be called "wild west".
What they should do is have a standard download link that wold allow easy automation (dev.bukkit.org/server-mods/pluginname/latestjarv[version number without dots].jar) the only difference would be for plugins requiring extra work such as plugins with a zip file. those would only notify you. plugin urls would be specified in the plugin as pluginname/latestjar and a true/false for notify-only and if a plugin dev messes up then it will detect sip files and not use them. plugins should not update on startup and should use a /updatebukkit and /updateplugins commands to update bukkit to the channel specified in bukkit.yml and update the plugins outputting either "OK", "MANUAL UPDATE REQUIRED", or "FAILED" the bukkit update would ubviously not be able to replace itself but only download the new jar. bukkit would automatically backup all the plugins and their configs for idiots who dont back them up themselves. it would also allow undoing the update by restoring from the backup made. while updating all players would be kicked and unable to join and all plugins would be unload and require /reload to load them after the update (in case bukkit needs updating to prevent console spam)