How to run Metal3 website locally with Jekyll

Thursday, 18/01/2024

By Salima Rabiu

metal3 baremetal metal3-dev-env documentation development

Introduction

If you’re a developer or contributor to the Metal3 project, you may need to run the Metal3 website locally to test changes and ensure everything looks as expected before deploying them. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up and running Metal3’s website locally on your machine using Jekyll.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites installed on your system:

Ruby: Jekyll, the static site generator used by Metal3, is built with Ruby. Install Ruby and its development tools by running the following command in your terminal:
```
sudo apt install ruby-full
```

Setting up Metal3’s Website

Once Ruby is installed, we can proceed to set up Metal3’s website and its dependencies. Follow these steps:

Clone the Metal3 website repository from GitHub. Open your terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to clone the repository, then run the following command:
```
git clone https://github.com/metal3-io/metal3-io.github.io.git
```
Change to the cloned directory:
```
cd metal3-io.github.io
```
Install the required gems and dependencies using Bundler. Run the following command:
```
bundle install
```

Running the Metal3 Website Locally

With Metal3’s website and its dependencies installed, you can now start the local development server to view and test the website. In the terminal, navigate to the project’s root directory (metal3-io.github.io) and run the following command:

bundle exec jekyll serve

This command tells Jekyll to build the website and start a local server. Once the server is running, you’ll see output indicating the local address where the Metal3 website is being served, typically http://localhost:4000.

Open your web browser and enter the provided address. Congratulations! You should now see the Metal3 website running locally, allowing you to preview your changes and ensure everything is working as expected.

Conclusion

Running Metal3’s website locally using Jekyll is a great way to test changes and ensure the site functions properly before deploying them. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ve successfully set up and run Metal3’s website locally. Feel free to explore the Metal3 documentation and contribute to the project further.