BUILD.md

Building the GeoServer website (Docker + Jekyll)

This file documents how to build the site locally using Docker so you don't have to install Ruby or Jekyll locally.

Prerequisites

• Docker
• A working Git checkout of this repository

Optional (local install)

• If you prefer to build locally without Docker: Ruby + RubyGems, Bundler (gem install bundler) and the repository checked out.

Docker: build only

• Replace ABS_PATH_TO_REPO with the absolute path to this repository on your machine (Windows examples use d:/...):

# Build only: installs gems inside container and builds the static site into _site
docker run --rm -v "ABS_PATH_TO_REPO:/srv/jekyll" -w /srv/jekyll jekyll/jekyll:4 \
  bash -lc "bundle install --jobs 4 --retry 3 && bundle exec jekyll build"

Docker: serve locally (with auto-reload)

• This runs the site and exposes it on port 4000 on your host. Use --host 0.0.0.0 so the container binds to the mapped interface.

docker run --rm -p 4000:4000 -v "ABS_PATH_TO_REPO:/srv/jekyll" -w /srv/jekyll jekyll/jekyll:4 \
  bash -lc "bundle install --jobs 4 --retry 3 && bundle exec jekyll serve --watch --host 0.0.0.0"

Windows path notes

• When using PowerShell or CMD on Windows, quote the volume path as shown above: "d:/path/to/repo:/srv/jekyll".
• If you see an error about the working directory, omit -w /srv/jekyll and cd into the folder inside the container:

docker run --rm -v "ABS_PATH_TO_REPO:/srv/jekyll" jekyll/jekyll:4 bash -lc "cd /srv/jekyll && bundle install --jobs 4 --retry 3 && bundle exec jekyll build"

Notes

• Liquid variables (like {{site.stable_branch}}) come from _config.yml (for example stable_branch: 2.28.x).
• To update the value that appears site-wide, edit _config.yml and re-run the build.