Jekyll grows fast. Keeping it updated to the latest version is easy, if we keep every dependency to the latest version too, starting with ruby! The previous article on installing Jekyll on mac Sierra is too old to be used now. Also, it used the ruby version comes by default in macOS. That’s usually an older version. In order to get the latest version of ruby (or anything), there are paths available. I personally like macports. So, let’s get started.
macports
Make sure you have macports already installed. If you don’t have it yet, see the quick start guide on macports. Basically, you’d need xcode commandline tools (xcode-select --install) and then select the appropriate macports package to install depending on your macOS version. Once installed, verify it using the command… port version.
ruby
The current version of Ruby (as of this writing) is 2.4.x. It can be installed using the command… sudo port install ruby24. This will install ruby2.4 and gem2.4 binaries at /opt/local/bin. Let’s create symlinks to override the default ruby and gem (comes bundled with macOS).
sudo ln -s /opt/local/bin/ruby2.4 /opt/local/bin/ruby
sudo ln -s /opt/local/bin/gem2.4 /opt/local/bin/gem
bundler
Bundler is an easy way to pack gems for a Ruby project. You may install bundler using the command gem install bundler. You are likely to receive the error related to the permissions. Because, by default, gem tries to install globally. You may force gem to install its gems only to the local user by setting up the environment variable GEM_HOME to a local directory such as ~/.gem or ~/gem. I prefer the former.
jekyll
Finally, it’s time to install Jekyll.
gem install jekyll
cd ~/tmp
jekyll new my-awesome-site
jekyll serve
video
(coming soon) If you are a fan of learning through videos, here’s the video that covers most steps.