Invalid plugin.yml exception with Bukkit

Question

I'm just testing some basic Bukkit plugins, trying to get them to work so that I can test them. I keep getting the same error with my plugin (which I practically copied from the Bukkit wiki)

Here's the error message:

15:25:18 [INFO] Starting minecraft server version 1.6.2
15:25:18 [INFO] Loading properties
15:25:18 [INFO] Default game type: SURVIVAL
15:25:18 [INFO] Generating keypair
15:25:18 [INFO] Starting Minecraft server on *:25565
15:25:19 [INFO] This server is running CraftBukkit version git-Bukkit-1.6.2-R1.0
-b2879jnks (MC: 1.6.2) (Implementing API version 1.6.2-R1.0)
15:25:19 [SEVERE] Could not load 'plugins\Test-Plugin.jar' in folder 'plugins'
org.bukkit.plugin.InvalidDescriptionException: Invalid plugin.yml
        at org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPluginLoader.getPluginDescription(JavaPlug
inLoader.java:257)
        at org.bukkit.plugin.SimplePluginManager.loadPlugins(SimplePluginManager
.java:132)
        at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_6_R2.CraftServer.loadPlugins(CraftServer.ja
va:239)
        at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_6_R2.CraftServer.<init>(CraftServer.java:21
7)
        at net.minecraft.server.v1_6_R2.PlayerList.<init>(PlayerList.java:56)
        at net.minecraft.server.v1_6_R2.DedicatedPlayerList.<init>(SourceFile:11
)
        at net.minecraft.server.v1_6_R2.DedicatedServer.init(DedicatedServer.jav
a:106)
        at net.minecraft.server.v1_6_R2.MinecraftServer.run(MinecraftServer.java
:391)
        at net.minecraft.server.v1_6_R2.ThreadServerApplication.run(SourceFile:5
82)
Caused by: while scanning for the next token
found character         '\t' that cannot start any token
 in "<reader>", line 7, column 1:
        usage: /ignite [player]
    ^

        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.scanner.ScannerImpl.fetchMoreTokens(ScannerImpl.ja
va:358)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.scanner.ScannerImpl.checkToken(ScannerImpl.java:17
9)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserImpl$ParseBlockMappingKey.produce(Par
serImpl.java:563)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserImpl.peekEvent(ParserImpl.java:161)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserImpl.checkEvent(ParserImpl.java:146)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeMappingNode(Composer.java
:230)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeNode(Composer.java:160)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeMappingNode(Composer.java
:237)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeNode(Composer.java:160)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeMappingNode(Composer.java
:237)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeNode(Composer.java:160)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.composeDocument(Composer.java:12
3)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.composer.Composer.getSingleNode(Composer.java:106)

        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.BaseConstructor.getSingleData(BaseCons
tructor.java:121)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml.loadFromReader(Yaml.java:480)
        at org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml.load(Yaml.java:411)
        at org.bukkit.plugin.PluginDescriptionFile.<init>(PluginDescriptionFile.
java:188)
        at org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPluginLoader.getPluginDescription(JavaPlug
inLoader.java:252)
        ... 8 more

Right now, all I'm trying to do is to get this plugin to load on my server. The main error here is Invalid plugin.yml. Here's my plugin.yml file:

name: Test
main: com.hasherr.bukkit.test.Main
version: 1.0
commands:
  ignite:
        description: Sets the designated player on fire.
        usage: /ignite [player]
        permissions: Test.ignite
        permission-message: You can't use that command.

As for the actual code of the plugin, here it is:

public final class Main extends JavaPlugin
{

    @Override
    public void onEnable()
    {
        getLogger().info("Test plugin has been enabled.");
    }

    @Override
    public void onDisable()
    {
        getLogger().info("Test plugin has been disabled.");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command cmd, String label, String[] args) {
        // Uses equalsIgnoreCase() over equals() to accept "ignite" and "IgNiTe."
        if (cmd.getName().equalsIgnoreCase("ignite")) {
            // Make sure that the player specified exactly one argument (the name of the player to ignite).
            if (args.length != 1) {
                // When onCommand() returns false, the help message associated with that command is displayed.
                return false;
            }

            // Make sure the sender is a player.
            if (!(sender instanceof Player)) {
                sender.sendMessage("Only players can set other players on fire.");
                sender.sendMessage("This is an arbitrary requirement for demonstration purposes only.");
                return true;
            }

            // Get the player who should be set on fire. Remember that indecies start with 0, not 1.
            Player target = Bukkit.getServer().getPlayer(args[0]);

            // Make sure the player is online.
            if (target == null) {
                sender.sendMessage(args[0] + " is not currently online.");
                return true;
            }

            // Sets the player on fire for 1,000 ticks (there are ~20 ticks in second, so 50 seconds total).
            target.setFireTicks(1000);
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }

}

Could somebody tell me why I'm getting an Invalid plugin.yml message that doesn't allow my plugin to run? Let me know if you need any more details/info, I'll be happy to edit.

Answer 1

name: Test
main: com.hasherr.bukkit.test.Main
version: 1.0
commands:
  ignite:
     description: Sets the designated player on fire.
     usage: /ignite [player]
permissions: 
  Test.ignite
    description: Sets a player on FIRE
    default:true

Like this...

Answer 2

You can also configure that each time you press TAB it's automatically converted to spaces. Additonally you can define how many spaces should be inserted when you press TAB. Personally I use 4 spaces, at work we use the 2 spaces standard.

You can find the options in NotePad+ here

Settings -> Preferences -> Tab Settings

you can define it for each language and a default value. Just mark "Replace by space"

Answer 3

You have tabs in your plugin.yml, which aren't allowed. The code runs as expected if you replace all of the tabs with a set amount of spaces (most commonly 4 in my experience).

If you're editing it in Notepad++, use Edit -> Blank Operations -> TAB to Space to replace all tabs with spaces automatically.