I’ve tried out Rainbow for 1.8, and it seemed to work adequately in the small server tests I ran. At least it gave us some useful tools like warps for 1.8, although the Janitor tends to spam the log a bit. I have no serious complaints about it’s functionality, just the limited range of plugins available (which is quite understandable).
That said, I’ll still hold out for an API that can handle a range of plugins similar to the 40-odd that my 1.7.10 server is using at present. It’s all about the Baggage, and my server has a lot of it. I’d hate to lose the power and complexity of the detailed configs I have evolved over the years. I’m hoping that most of the plugins will make it to 1.8 in Sponge (and the signs are good), and that the configs won’t need to be significantly rewritten. So in the long term, I want Sponge.
If I were starting a server from scratch, the appeal of a server wrapper that’s actually ready NOW would probably be irresistible, and Rainbow would be my choice.
So there you go, 2-bob each way. I wish success to both teams.