This post contains setup instructions for initialising my GitHub pages environment so I don’t have to keep relearning it. At the time of writing I use Ubuntu 24.04 via Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Links are provided at the end for each resource I have used.

Install WSL1:

wsl.exe --install

Get a list of existing Linux distributions available via WSL:

> wsl --list --online
The following is a list of valid distributions that can be installed.
Install using 'wsl.exe --install <Distro>'.

NAME                            FRIENDLY NAME
Ubuntu                          Ubuntu
Ubuntu-24.04                    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
openSUSE-Tumbleweed             openSUSE Tumbleweed
openSUSE-Leap-16.0              openSUSE Leap 16.0
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP7    SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-16.0      SUSE Linux Enterprise 16.0
kali-linux                      Kali Linux Rolling
Debian                          Debian GNU/Linux
AlmaLinux-8                     AlmaLinux OS 8
AlmaLinux-9                     AlmaLinux OS 9
AlmaLinux-Kitten-10             AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10
AlmaLinux-10                    AlmaLinux OS 10
archlinux                       Arch Linux
FedoraLinux-43                  Fedora Linux 43
FedoraLinux-42                  Fedora Linux 42
Ubuntu-20.04                    Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu-22.04                    Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
OracleLinux_7_9                 Oracle Linux 7.9
OracleLinux_8_10                Oracle Linux 8.10
OracleLinux_9_5                 Oracle Linux 9.5
openSUSE-Leap-15.6              openSUSE Leap 15.6
SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-15-SP6    SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP6

Install Ubuntu.

> wsl --install Ubuntu-24.04

Load your WSL environment and clone your GitHub pages git repo.

git clone https://github.com/nukethebees/nukethebees.github.io.git

Install Jekyll’s dependencies2.

sudo apt-get install ruby-full build-essential zlib1g-dev

Set a local gem installation directory.

echo '# Install Ruby Gems to ~/gems' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export GEM_HOME="$HOME/gems"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/gems/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Install Jekyll and Bundler.

gem install jekyll bundler

Install the required gems for your site via bundler3.

bundle install

Navigate to your page’s local repository and run the site locally4:

bundle exec jekyll serve

  1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install ↩

  2. https://jekyllrb.com/docs/installation/ubuntu/ ↩

  3. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41211670/rails-i-installed-ruby-now-bundle-install-doesnt-work ↩

  4. https://docs.github.com/en/pages/setting-up-a-github-pages-site-with-jekyll/testing-your-github-pages-site-locally-with-jekyll ↩