Deploying Static Site to GitHub Pages via Travis CI

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2017-06-26

Deploying Static Site to GitHub Pages via Travis CI

As I repeatedly mentioned in this blog, takuti.me is currently generated by Hugo:

Manual deployment

Until quite recently, my deployment workflow was not clever; I manually followed the steps as:

Write an article under takuti.me/_content directory
Hit rake command and generate my site under the public/ directory
Commit & push takuti.me/* to repository (source), except for public/
Commit & push takuti.me/public/* to repository (GitHub Pages)

It actually works, but we can automate the workflow more aggressively...it's 2017!

Utilizing `deploy:` feature on Travis CI

So, eventually deployment becomes easier thanks to the following guide:

GitHub Pages Deployment - Travis CI

My current .travis.yml looks like:

language: c
os: osx

before_script:
  - npm install -g gulp
  - npm install
  - brew update && brew install hugo

script:
  - rake

branches:
  only:
    - master

notifications:
  email: false

deploy:
  provider: pages
  skip_cleanup: true
  local_dir: public
  github_token: $GITHUB_TOKEN # Set in travis-ci.org dashboard
  on:
    branch: master
  repo: takuti/takuti.github.io
  target_branch: master
  fqdn: takuti.me

Once you have set your $GITHUB_TOKEN to environment variables in travis-ci.org, CI on source repository automatically generates your site and pushes it to GitHub Pages repository; now what we have to do is:

Write an article under takuti.me/_content directory
Commit & push takuti.me/* to repository (source), except for public/

Neat, huh?

In case that you are using custome domain on GitHub Pages like me, setting fqdn: as fqdn: takuti.me enables Travis CI to automatically create the CNAME file under xxx.github.io repository.

Unfortunately, the CI-based deployment still has problems.

First, Deployment Bot removes all of your commit logs in xxx.github.io repository; it forcibly pushes to the repository:

travis-deploy-bot

In addition, since installation such as npm install and brew install is necessaly for every time CI is launched, deployment usually takes more than 5 minutes.

In fact, these are minor problems from a practical point of view, but I personally believe that deploying static site can be more efficient and technologically stimulating by different approach e.g., using Docker containers. So, I continuouslly try to update how to organize takuti.me.

Author: Takuya Kitazawa

Takuya Kitazawa is a freelance software developer based in British Columbia, Canada. As a technologist specializing in AI and data-driven solutions, he has worked globally at Big Tech, start-up, and non-profit for over a decade. At the intersection of tech and society, he promotes the ethical use of information technologies through his mentoring, business consultation, and public engagement activities. See CV for more information, or contact at [email protected].

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