Minecraft Version History

I use this program to generate a git history that shows the changes to Minecraft with every release. As far as I know, only I use it, so the documentation isn't amazing. But if you want to use it, just ask and I'd be happy to help you set it up!

It works for both Java and Bedrock editions. You need to use a config.yaml file to determine a lot of functionality. Either put it next to the executable, or pass its path as an argument. You can view the config I personally use as a reference.

Java Features

• Versions are read as they appear in the .minecraft/versions directory, with a folder containing an identically-named jar and JSON manifest.
• The entire contents of the jar is extracted to the jar folder. You can use the config to exclude unnecessary files like .class files or META-INF, leaving only the vanilla resource/data pack.
  • Generated files that change often, such as the shipwreck_supply loot table, can be configured to be sorted to avoid clogging diffs.
• All NBT files (mostly structures from the jar) are converted to indented SNBT and stored alongside their binary counterparts.
  • You can configure specific keys to be removed from both copies (like DataVersion, which is incremented every release).
• For versions that support it, data generators are run and their output stored in the reports folder. The server jar is downloaded automatically to accomplish this. This includes the command tree, the block states registry, and the other registries, as well as biome data in more recent versions.
• The source code is decompiled and stored in the source folder.
  • You can choose between cfr (my personal choice) or FernFlower.
  • For versions that support it, Mojang mappings are automatically downloaded and used to deobfuscate the jar.
  • If the server jar can be downloaded, it is decompiled as well, ensuring that all endpoint-specific code is included.

Bedrock Features

• The versions are read as APPX archives.
• The entire contents of the APPX is extracted to the data folder.
• NBT files are converted, as above.
• Since Bedrock stores its vanilla resource/behavior packs in slices, you can with configuration merge them into a "final" pack. Whether files across slices should be overwritten or merge in some way is also configurable. These final packs are stored in the latest_packs folder.

History Order

The program organizes the versions by branches that correspond to a release. Currently, the program has no way to determine what release each version belongs to, so it must be configured. Once you do that, however, the program does a decent job at figuring out by itself how to construct the branches.

Within a branch, all versions are sorted by release date. You can use the config to override this order. The branches themselves are also arranged by release date, where the first version of a branch will parent to the newest version of the previous branch that's still older than the version in question. So far, this seems to accurately recreate the Minecraft version history tree, but you can also use the config to explicitly define parents.