bkk: raywenderlich.com Book Repo Template

This repo is a template for starting new book projects. It is structured appropriately, contains some sample content, and is integrated with robles, the raywenderlich.com automatic book publishing system.

To use this repo, complete the following:

1. Click the Use this template button above to create a new repo from this template. Choose an appropriate name and be sure to set it as private within the raywenderlich organization.
2. Use robles to publish the required secrets (see Confluence).
3. Use https://github.com/raywenderlich/bkk-materials to create a materials repo to accompany this book repo. Unlike this repo, the materials should be public.
4. Edit publish.yaml to populate all the fields as appropriate.
5. Edit vend.yaml to populate all the fields as appropriate.
6. Edit README.md (this file) to remove these instructions, and leave the remaining details below.

Don’t forget to set up the GitHub book team with Write access to this repo.

Once you’ve done the above and removed these instructions, it’s a good idea to now go create the sku-materials repo from the https://github.com/raywenderlich/bkk-materials repo so you don’t forget.

Unlike this repo, the materials repo should be public.

=== REMOVE THIS LINE AND EVERYTHING ABOVE IT AFTER YOU CLONE THIS REPO ===

<TODO: FILL IN BOOK NAME HERE>

This repo contains the markdown, images and other elements that compose the body of this book.

NB: The downloadable materials that accompany the book (source code, projects, assets, etc) must not be stored in this repo. They should be stored in a separate repo, here: <TODO: Update URL with the appropriate materials repo location> https://github.com/raywenderlich/bkk-materials.

Useful Tools

The tooling supporting book creation is provided via the way of a docker container. As such you need to ensure that you have docker installed on your local machine. To discover how to do this, please visit Docker Desktop.

Linting

You can use the robles linter to check that you don't have mistakes in your metadata, and image locations.

In a terminal, navigate to this repo, and then run the following command:

$ bin/lint

The first time this runs (and whenever there is an updated container available), this will download the latest version of the docker container. It will then run the linting process and give you directions to any failures or warnings.

Local Preview

robles has an embedded web server that allows you to preview what the completed chapter will look like when deployed to raywenderlich.com.

Note: This is necessarily not identical to the online version, however it serves as a good approximation, allowing you to address major stylistic issues before publication.

In a terminal, navigate to this repo, and then run the following command:

$ bin/serve

This will start a webserver on your local machine at http://localhost:4567/. Navigate to this address with your web browser. From here you can use the table of contents to navigate to the chapter of your choice.

This server watches the filesystem, so as you make changes and save them, the page in your browser will automatically refresh.

To stop the server, go back to the terminal and press Ctrl + C.

How to set up new chapter branches in this repo

If you’re adding a chapter to a new book (editions/1.0), or a new chapter to an existing book, use these instructions:

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.
2. Using Terminal or a shell console, navigate into the directory that contains this repo.
3. For each new chapter directory and branch you would like to create, execute the following command: ./scripts/make-codex-subdirectory.sh 00-chapter-name-here, replacing 00-chapter-name-here with the (mandatory) zero-padded chapter number and hyphenated lowercase name of the chapter. Examples are "01-introduction" and "22-gitignore-after-the-fact".
4. Repeat the above command for all chapter branches you wish to create.
5. When you’ve completed that, push all of the branches to the remote by executing git push --all.
6. Repeat this process in the associated materials repo.

How to set up branches for existing chapters

If you’re creating a branch for a chapter that already exists in a book, use these instructions:

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.
2. Using Terminal or a shell console, navigate into the directory that contains this repo.
3. For each chapter branch you would like to create, execute the following command: ./scripts/make-codex-branch.sh 00-chapter-name-here, replacing 00-chapter-name-here with the actual zero-padded chapter number and hyphenated lowercase name of the chapter. Examples are "01-introduction" and "22-gitignore-after-the-fact". This won’t do anything to the existing directory, except to create a branch to hold the updates for this edition.
4. Repeat the above command for all chapter branches you wish to create.
5. When you’ve completed that, push all of the branches to the remote by executing git push --all.
6. Repeat this process in the associated materials repo.

How to create a new edition

Minor changes should be part of the current edition. On merging branches to an existing published, editions/x.x branch, those changes will be auto-published.

Major new releases have specific launch dates, and should be created thusly:

1. Create a new branch off the latest editions/x.x branch, with the new edition number. For example, if your latest published edition is editions/1.2, one would branch off editions/1.2 to create the editions/2.0 edition.
2. Set the new branch as the default branch in Settings. This will ensure that people arriving to the site, or anyone cloning the repository, will be shown the branch that is currently in progress.
3. Repeat this process in the associated materials repo.
4. Update publish.yaml with any changes. As a minimum, the following fields will require an update to reflect the new edition details:
   • edition
   • released_at
   • materials_url
5. Create any chapter/work branches you desire off the new branch. When they are merged back in, the book will auto-deploy, whilst retaining the previous edition.

How to create an early-access release

This process is for creating a release of a book, whilst an edition is being worked on. The flow is broadly similar to the aforementioned flow for creating a new edition, with some subtle changes.

1. Create a new branch off the currently in progress branch. e.g. assuming you're working on the 2nd edition, i.e. editions/2.0 and you'd like to create the first early access, you'd create a new branch called editions/2.0.ea1 off editions/2.0.
2. Do not change the default branch.
3. Continue working on non-EA work on the editions/2.0 branch.
4. Update metadata in publish.yaml for the EA release on the EA branch. This will automatically be published.
5. If required, be sure to create an equivalent branch in the materials repo.