How Docker helps with a Jekyll setup

First, how hard the setup used to be, then what I use instead.

When I started this blog, setting up the environment took me about 6 hours: a new Linux VM, networking with the host and installing Jekyll… It wasn’t easy. Installing the latest Ruby with plugins from the official website failed with a misleading error message. The fix was a Ruby version manager with one particular Ruby version. I’m not used to such magic on the JVM and Linux. Once it worked, I didn’t dare touch it. But someday I would have to update it…

I also tried to set it up natively on Windows, but it isn’t supported, so I gave up after an hour of struggling.

All in all, a long and unpredictable process. Today I used Docker instead. The Jekyll team maintains an image with the environment ready to use, and Docker takes care of networking and sharing directories. From zero to a running blog in 30 minutes. No fear of breaking the setup or of updating it. The best of both worlds, backed by the Microsoft and Docker teams.

Commands

Bash on Ubuntu on Windows:

• cd /mnt/d/ - files edited from both sides have to live on a Windows drive. Windows tools must not touch files inside the Ubuntu on Windows file system.
• git clone https://github.com/kastoestoramadus/personal-jekyll-theme.git blog - the Docker image is a Linux image, so it expects Linux line endings. That’s why I use Git from Bash on Ubuntu on Windows, and vim there to edit posts.
• cd blog; git add *; git commit; git push origin master - everything the container generates shows up here too.

PowerShell:

• docker run -p 127.0.0.1:4000:4000 --rm --mount type=bind,source=D:\blog,target=/srv/jekyll -it jekyll/jekyll:3.3 bash - the image takes less than 100 MB, while the VM took 10+ GB! type=bind makes file changes visible both ways.

In the container’s bash:

• jekyll serve - builds the pages and starts a web server
• my theme’s own commands: creating posts, regenerating tags etc.

Windows web browser:

• http://localhost:4000 - the blog served from Docker

A great integration of three environments:

• Jekyll in Docker as the blog engine
• Bash on Ubuntu on Windows for editing and version control
• Windows as the host and the testing client (it could be used for editing too, with an editor that keeps Linux line endings)

Issues

• You need to learn Bash on Ubuntu on Windows. It isn’t hard and it’s worth it. People used to install Cygwin; now a real Linux shell comes with Windows, and its integration and performance will get closer to native.
• You need to learn Docker. It helps in other projects too - nowadays a must-have.
• For now, Jekyll’s auto-regeneration doesn’t work: the container doesn’t notice file changes made on the Windows side. Tight file system integration is hard, even more so because Linux file systems are superior to NTFS.

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