Building Jenkins.io with alternative tools

Project goal: Using alternative tooling (Antora or Hugo) to build the Jenkins static site and provide documentation per Jenkins version

Skills to study/improve: Web development, AsciiDoc, Static website tooling, Proof of concept, Documentation

NOTE: This idea is published as a draft under active discussion, but it is confirmed in principle. It is FINE to apply to it. The scope and the suggested implementation may change significantly before the final version is published. Sections like quickstart guide and newbie-friendly issues may be also missing. As a contributor, you are welcome to request additional information and to join the discussions using channels linked on this page.

Details

Background

Jenkins.io is generated as a static website using Awestruct from AsciiDoc sources, YAML data files, and HAML templates stored in GitHub. One of the drawbacks of the current build method is that the technical documentation is not product version bound. It is thus not possible to view the documentation for a given Jenkins version. Only the latest can be viewed. This can lead to unnecessary confusion and is a worse experience than many other docuementation sites like the git site, FreeBSD, and others..

The preferred tool to replace Awestruct is Antora.

The potential GSoC project would be to build a working site generator to demonstrate the existing site. Once the existing site is generated with Antora, the site should be extended to add version specific documentation.

Quick Start

Documentation quick start steps include:

  • Build the current documentation site locally

  • Become familiar with the current site, including:

    • Page types and how they are generated

      • Changelogs

      • Roadmap

      • User handbook

      • Developer handbook

      • Artwork

      • Security advisories

      • Version specific content in tutorials (like "Improve a plugin")

    • Page content sources

      • Asciidoc

      • HAML / Ruby

      • Web components

    • Build process

      • Makefile

      • Docker containers

      • Syntax and spelling checks

  • Fix several "good first issues"

  • Explore Antora

  • Review version specific documentation techniques (some of them are Antora sites)

Skills to Study and Improve

  • Web development

  • AsciiDoc

  • Static website tooling

    • HAML templates

    • YAML data files

  • Proof of concept

  • Documentation

Project Difficulty Level

Beginner to Intermediate

Project Size

175 hours

Expected outcomes

The deliverables of the project(s) would be:

  1. Iterative and incremental improvements to the site throughout the project

  2. A fully automated (CI ready) build procedure, equivalent to the existing one, but using Antora

  3. Demonstration that all the existing pages are rendered in an equivalent way

    • Suggestions of improved page design(s)

    • A list of all automation that are difficult/impossible to port to the new tool

    • Suggestions and demos of alternative ways to solve this

  4. Demonstration of the versioned documentation automated tooling

    • Description of the publication process (how does one contribute to document a new or modified feature)

New features

Improved layout of the existing site and its pages.

Newbie Friendly Issues

Basically any good-first-issue listed in the jenkins.io GitHub repo would do. These can be accessed at the GitHub repo issues tracker with the "good first issue" label.

Potential Mentors

Project Links

Organization Links

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