Makefile's `serve` rule checks out submodules, making testing theme changes difficult
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Description
@jarrodmillman @stefanv
While working on https://github.com/numpy/numpy.org/pull/668, I noticed again that the Makefile's serve rule calls git submodule update. Since the https://github.com/scientific-python/scientific-python-hugo-theme repo is a submodule in the numpy.org and scientific-python.org repos, this makes it a bit more difficult to test theme changes against these sites, because calling make serve tries to set the theme submodules back to what the "superproject" (in git-submodule terms) expects, rather than what the theme developer may have temporarily checked out in the submodule repository.
Both the numpy.org and scientific-python.org repos' Makefiles have a serve-dev rule. In each one, the only difference from the serve rule is that it adds the argument --disableFastRender (which is a Hugo option that affects how it serves the pages locally). I wonder if it would be appropriate to also use the serve-dev rule to not force the submodules to be updated; rather, we could just print a warning if the submodules aren't what's expected. This would allow the theme developer to use a different checkout in the submodule more easily.
Please let me know what you think about this idea. If it sounds good, I'll update the Makefiles accordingly. Thanks.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Read the numpy.org and scientific-python.org Makefiles, comparing their serve and serve-dev rules and the submodule update command. Check how Hugo is invoked and determine how serve-dev should avoid forcing the theme checkout while warning about mismatches. Done means theme developers can test a different submodule checkout without it being reset.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- git, hugo, shell
- Domain
- build-system
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100