Jekyll is a static site generator with a templating system that can be adapted for many types of websites, including blogs. It can be run on a server, or run locally and the generated files uploaded to a server. It is the default software used by Github Pages.
Install Prerequisites
Install ruby, the ruby development libraries, and the make command.
sudo apt-get install ruby ruby-dev make gcc nodejs
Install Jekyll
Install the Jekyll gem system wide. For speed, we are excluding the extended documentation. To include all documentation, omit the --no-rdoc --no-ri switches.
sudo gem install jekyll --no-rdoc --no-ri
Start Jekyll
Check that Jekyll has been successfully installed.
jekyll -V
Recommended
Additional gems can add features to Jekyll, such the github-pages gem which bundles together several gems supported by Github Pages.
sudo gem install github-pages --no-rdoc --no-ri
Get Website Content
Now that Jekyll is installed, we need content for it to serve. We can either use a current website, or set up a new site from scratch.
Create New Site
For a new Jekyll site, use the new command to create a directory structure and config files.
jekyll new my-awesome-site cd my-awesome-site
Start Jekyll
Now that the basic config and layout are available, start Jekyll to generate the website HTML and start a local server.
jekyll serve
Then visit http://localhost:4000 in a web browser.
Extra Options
Jekyll can watch the directory for changes and regenerate the website when files are modified.
jekyll serve -w
The default port 4000 can be changed, for example when running multiple Jekyll instances.
jekyll serve --port 4001
Then visit [http://localhost:4001]http://localhost:4001 in a web browser.
The _config.yml can also be specified. This is useful if you need different configs for a public site or when running locally. For example, when running vnnpal.com locally use:
jekyll serve --config _config-local.yml
The website can also be generated without starting a local server. The files are placed into the _site directory and can be uploaded to a web server.
jekyll build
Updating Jekyll
ekyll can be updated similar to installation, by using the gem update command.
sudo gem update jekyll --no-rdoc --no-ri
The same command can be used to update additional gems.
sudo gem update github-pages --no-rdoc --no-ri