Jekyll is a static site generator with a templating system that can be adapted for many types of websites, including blogs. It can be run on a server, or run locally and the generated files uploaded to a server. It is the default software used by Github Pages.

Install ruby, the ruby development libraries, and the make command.

sudo apt-get install ruby ruby-dev make gcc nodejs

Install the Jekyll gem system wide. For speed, we are excluding the extended documentation. To include all documentation, omit the –no-rdoc –no-ri switches.

sudo gem install jekyll --no-rdoc --no-ri
sudo gem install pygments.rb

jekyll new my-awesome-site
cd my-awesome-site
jekyll serve
=> Now browse to http://localhost:4000

Additional gems can add features to Jekyll, such the github-pages gem which bundles together several gems supported by Github Pages.

sudo gem install github-pages --no-rdoc --no-ri

Although not required, git is often used to manage the files of a Jekyll website.

sudo apt-get install git

git add --all
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push -u origin master