Local Development Setup

Local Development Setup

Running the Veterans Information Resource website on your local machine is the best way to test your changes before submitting a contribution. This guide will walk you through the process.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following software installed on your system:

• Git: For cloning the repository. Download Git.
• Ruby: The programming language Jekyll is built on. It is highly recommended to use a version manager like rbenv or RVM. You can also download Ruby here.
• Bundler: The package manager for Ruby. You can install it by running: gem install bundler.

Installation and Setup

1. Clone the Repository: Open your terminal and clone the project from GitHub.

   git clone https://github.com/hadcomfort/hadcomfort.github.io.git

2. Navigate to the Directory:

   cd hadcomfort.github.io

3. Install Dependencies: Bundler will read the Gemfile and install all the necessary gems (like Jekyll).

   bundle install

Running the Local Server

1. Start the Jekyll Server: Use Bundler to execute Jekyll in a way that respects the versions in the Gemfile.lock.

   bundle exec jekyll serve

   This command builds the site and starts a local web server. You should see output similar to this:

   Configuration file: /path/to/hadcomfort.github.io/_config.yml
               Source: /path/to/hadcomfort.github.io
          Destination: /path/to/hadcomfort.github.io/_site
    Incremental build: disabled. Enable with --incremental
         Generating...
                       done in 0.529 seconds.
    Auto-regeneration: enabled for '/path/to/hadcomfort.github.io'
       Server address: http://127.0.0.1:4000/
     Server running... press ctrl-c to stop.
   

2. View the Site: Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:4000. You should see a local version of the website.

Troubleshooting

• Dependency Errors: If bundle install fails, ensure your Ruby version is compatible. Sometimes running bundle update can resolve dependency conflicts.
• Jekyll Build Errors: Pay close attention to the terminal output when you run bundle exec jekyll serve. It will often tell you exactly which file and line has a syntax error.