Jekyll Step By Step

Me following through the step-by-step quickstart guide found here: https://jekyllrb.com/docs/step-by-step/01-setup/.

Getting Jekyll Installed on Debian

Fun fact: running sudo apt install ruby gem doesn't work because the ruby package doesn't include the Ruby development kit. Instead you have to run:

sudo apt install ruby-dev gem

Then you need Jekyll and bundle

sudo gem install jekyll bundle

where bundle allows you to add dependencies to the site (including Jekyll itself, which isn't necessary but ensures you have a consistent version).

Creating the Repo From Scratch

These are the instructions for starting with an empty directory. There's also a quick project builder described below. To get bundle working you need to run:

bundle init

Then you add the following to the created Gemfile

gem "jekyll"

or you can get bundle to do it

bundle add jekyll

Then it should be possible to run the following to build the site:

bundle exec jekyll build

Or, to use the site-wide installed version rather than the bundled version:

jekyll build

Doing It Quickly With the Built-In Jekyll Script

jekyll new myblog

This creates a new directory called myblog with the following files and directories:

• 404.html
• about.markdown
• config.yml
• Gemfile
• Gemfile.lock
• index.markdown
• _posts

Running it

To just build:

jekyll build

To build and run it locally:

jekyll serve

Note that when the server running, it will automatically rebuild whenever you make a change to the directory, so no need to restart.

Even better, pass the --livereload option and the browser itself will refresh whenever there's a change!

jekyll server --livereload