Harness the Power of Jekyll: Your Go-To Blog-aware Static Site Generator on Linux Bash

In the dynamic world of web development, efficiency and simplicity often spell the difference between a project that’s merely functional and one that’s truly engaging. This is where Jekyll, a popular static site generator, comes into play. Jekyll turns your text into static websites and blogs, allowing you to focus on using simple markup languages like Markdown instead of getting bogged down with complex databases. Jekyll not only simplifies web development process but also optimises performance by generating static content.

This blog is tailored for Linux users who want to harness the capabilities of Jekyll. We'll guide you through the installation process across various Linux distributions using different package managers including apt for Debian-based systems, dnf for Fedora, and zypper for openSUSE.

What Makes Jekyll Stand Out?

Before diving into the installation process, let's quickly glance through some of the highlights of Jekyll:

Simplicity: It doesn’t use databases; content creation is as simple as writing in a text editor.
Blog-aware: Jekyll is made for blogging by default, ready to handle dates, categories, and tags.
Flexible: Supports various configurations to suit different types of projects.
Static Site Performance: Generates static web pages making it inherently fast since there's no server-side processing.

Installation Instructions

Prerequisites

Before installing Jekyll, you must ensure that your system has Ruby installed. Jekyll is a Ruby Gem, so Ruby is non-negotiable. Moreover, you'll need RubyGems, Git, and GCC. Here’s how you go about installing these prerequisites:

Common Steps:

Open your terminal.
Ensure your package lists are updated.

Installing Ruby and Necessary Tools

For Debian/Ubuntu (Using `apt`)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ruby-full build-essential zlib1g-dev

For Fedora (Using `dnf`)

sudo dnf install ruby ruby-devel zlib-devel gcc make rpm-build rubygems

For openSUSE (Using `zypper`)

sudo zypper install ruby ruby-devel zlib-devel gcc make rpm-build

Setting Up Environment for Ruby Gems

To set up the gem installation path for your user account, add the following to your .bashrc or .zshrc:

echo '# Install Ruby Gems to ~/gems' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export GEM_HOME="$HOME/gems"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/gems/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Alternative method for `.zshrc`

Replace .bashrc with .zshrc if you use Zsh.

Installing Jekyll

Now that you have Ruby and the other prerequisites installed, you can install Jekyll itself:

gem install jekyll bundler

Create Your First Jekyll Site

jekyll new myblog
cd myblog

To start the Jekyll server and preview your new blog:

bundle exec jekyll serve

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:4000 to see your new site in action.

Conclusion

Utilizing Jekyll on Linux can significantly streamline your web development process. Whether you’re building a personal blog or a static company website, Jekyll offers a neat balance between simplicity and functionality, all while ensuring your site loads quickly for your audience. With Jekyll installed, you’re now set to dive deeper into customizing your site or exploring the vast ecosystem of themes and plugins available to Jekyll users.

Remember, every Linux distribution might have slight variations in package names and configurations, so always refer to the official documentation or community forums if you encounter any issues. Happy blogging with Jekyll!