Development setup and commands to build, serve, and more

The following instructions explain how to set up a development environment for this website.

Cloud-IDE setup

These instructions are for Gitpod.io, adjust as needed for your favorite cloud IDE:

1. Fork this repository. For help, see Fork a repository.

2. From gitpod.io/workspaces, create a new workspace (do this only once) or open an existing workspace over your fork. You can also visit a link of the form: https://gitpod.io#https://github.com/YOUR_GITHUB_ID/opentelemetry.io.

   Note: If you have the necessary permissions to work from this repository, or just want to look around, open https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io.

Gitpod automatically installs the repo-specific packages for you.

You’re now ready to build, serve or make updates to the website files.

Local setup

1. Fork and then clone the website repository at https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io.

2. Go to the repository directory.

3. Install or upgrade to the active LTS release of Node.js. We recommend using nvm to manage your Node installation. Under Linux, run the following command, which will install and upgrade to the version specified in the .nvmrc file:

   nvm install
   

   To install under Windows, use nvm-windows:

   > nvm install lts && nvm use lts
   

4. Get npm packages and other prerequisites:

   npm install
   

You’re now ready to build, serve or make updates to the website files.

Build

To build the site run:

npm run build

The generated site files are under public.

Serve

To serve the site run:

npm run serve

The site is served at localhost:1313.

If you need to test Netlify redirects, use the following command and visit the site at localhost:8888:

npm run serve:netlify

The serve command serves files from memory, not from disk.

If you see an error like too many open files or pipe failed under macOS, you might need to increase the file descriptor limit. See Hugo issue #6109.

Content and submodules

The website is built from the following content:

• Files under content/, static/, etc. per Hugo defaults.
• Mount points, defined in hugo.yaml under mounts. Mounts are either directly from git submodules under content-modules, or preprocessed content from content-modules (placed under tmp/), and no where else.

Submodule changes

If you change any content inside of a content-modules submodule, then you need to first submit a PR (containing the submodule changes) to the submodule’s repository. Only after the submodule PR has been accepted, can you update the submodule and have the changes appear in this website.

It’s easiest to manage your content-modules changes by working with the repository that the corresponding submodule is linked to, rather than inside the submodule itself.

Expert contributors can work directly in the submodule. You are then able to directly build and serve your (submodule) changes. By default, the CI scripts get submodules on every invocation. To prevent this behavior while you work within a submodule, set the environment variable GET=no. You also need to run git fetch --unshallow the submodule before you can submit a PR. Alternatively, set DEPTH=100 and re-fetch submodules.