Overview

The article discusses the use of GitHub Pages and how to make Jekyll site run properly with custom plugins. It introduces an action that can be used to conveniently build and deploy Jekyll sites to GitHub Pages.

Features

• Support for multiple providers: The action supports publishing the site to GitHub and running tests on pull requests without publishing. It also has the option to publish the site into any server that supports SSH protocol.
• Scheduled workflows: The action allows scheduling workflows using the POSIX cron syntax, with the shortest interval being once every 5 minutes.
• Authentication options: GitHub automatically creates a unique GITHUB_TOKEN secret for authentication in workflow runs. Additionally, users can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) with custom permissions and set it as a secret for the action to push to the gh-pages branch.

Installation

To use the action, follow these steps:

1. Add a GitHub workflow file (e.g. .github/workflows/build-jekyll.yml) in the repository’s master branch.
2. Configure the workflow file to specify the desired provider (e.g. github, test, ssh), scheduling options, and authentication details.
3. If using a PAT for authentication, create a token named GH_TOKEN in the repository’s settings and set its value.
4. In the GitHub Pages section of the repository’s settings, choose the gh-pages branch as the GitHub Pages source. If the gh-pages branch does not exist, it can be created.
5. If needed, configure specific environments or use SSH approach for deployment.

Summary

The article discusses the use of an action to conveniently build and deploy Jekyll sites to GitHub Pages. It provides information on the features of the action, installation instructions, and some additional tips and considerations.