Mechref

Currently, the website is hosted at https://mechref.org.

Index:

• Guide on custom components and their options
• To run the pages locally, refer to the guide for your specific Operating System:
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • MacOS

Running the pages locally

Windows

Installing required programs

Download GitHub Desktop. Once installed, login using the GitHub account with which you have collaborator access to the Mechref repository. Once logged in clone the Mechref repository.

Download NodeJS. By default, the installer should also install Node Package Manager/NPM, but double check that is the case.

Before running the pages for the first time

Open the Windows command prompt (Windows key + R and type in cmd, or type in cmd in the search menu.) Make sure it is not ran as administrator, such that the first line reads C:\Users\<user>, where <user> is the username of the current Windows user.

By default, the repository should be at C:\Users\<user>\Documents\GitHub\mechref. Run the command

cd Documents\GitHub\mechref

You should now see that the beginning of the line reads the correct location referenced previously.

Install all dependencies by running

npm install

Running the server

Make sure you are in the correct location. If not, refer to the previous section.

To start the server, run the following command:

npm run astro dev

It should now be accessible in your browser by typing localhost:4321 in the searchbar. Changes to the pages are automatically refresh them, and therefore changes should appear live.

Linux

Installing required programs

Fedora/RHEL

First update your system by running

sudo dnf update

To download GitHub Desktop, add the RPM repository and the required GPG keys to your system by running

sudo rpm --import https://rpm.packages.shiftkey.dev/gpg.key

sudo sh -c 'echo -e "[shiftkey-packages]\nname=GitHub Desktop\nbaseurl=https://rpm.packages.shiftkey.dev/rpm/\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\nrepo_gpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://rpm.packages.shiftkey.dev/gpg.key" > /etc/yum.repos.d/shiftkey-packages.repo'

, then install the package using dnf:

sudo dnf install github-desktop

Once installed, login using the GitHub account with which you have collaborator access to the Mechref repository. Once logged in clone the Mechref repository.

Download NodeJS by running

sudo dnf install nodejs

By default, the installer should also install Node Package Manager/NPM, but double check that is the case.

Ubuntu/Debian

To download GitHub Desktop, add the repository and the required GPG keys to your system by running

wget -qO - https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/gpg.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg > /dev/null
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/shiftkey-packages.gpg] https://apt.packages.shiftkey.dev/ubuntu/ any main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/shiftkey-packages.list'

, then update the system and install the package using apt:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install github-desktop

Once installed, login using the GitHub account with which you have collaborator access to the Mechref repository. Once logged in clone the Mechref repository.

Download NodeJS by running

sudo apt install nodejs

Run

sudo apt install npm

to also install Node Package Manager/NPM.

Before running the pages for the first time

Open your terminal and go to the correct directory with

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/mechref

or

cd $HOME/Documents/GitHub/mechref

Note: this is the default location for the mechref repository. If you changed the default location when installing GitHub desktop, these commands won't work. Instead, use the location you chose.

Install all dependencies by running

npm install

Optional: For easy access, consider creating a symbolic link in your home directory by running:

ln -s $HOME/Documents/GitHub/mechref ./mechref

Now, everytime you launch the terminal, you should be able to access the correct directory with

cd mechref

Running the server

Make sure you are in the correct location. If not, refer to the previous section.

To start the server, run the following command:

npm run astro dev

It should now be accessible in your browser by typing localhost:4321 in the searchbar. Changes to the pages are automatically refresh them, and therefore changes should appear live.

To stop the application, close the terminal window or run Ctrl + C.

MacOS

Installing required programs

Download GitHub Desktop. Once installed, login using the GitHub account with which you have collaborator access to the Mechref repository. Once logged in clone the Mechref repository.

Download NodeJS. By default, the installer should also install Node Package Manager/NPM, but double check that is the case.

Before running the pages for the first time

Open your terminal and go to the correct directory with

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/mechref

or

cd $HOME/Documents/GitHub/mechref

Note: this is the default location for the mechref repository. If you changed the default location when installing GitHub desktop, these commands won't work. Instead, use the location you chose.

Install all dependencies by running

npm install

Optional: For easy access, consider creating a symbolic link in your home directory by running:

ln -s $HOME/Documents/GitHub/mechref ./mechref

Now, everytime you launch the terminal, you should be able to access the correct directory with

cd mechref

Running the server

Make sure you are in the correct location. If not, refer to the previous section.

To start the server, run the following command:

npm run astro dev

It should now be accessible in your browser by typing localhost:4321 in the searchbar. Changes to the pages are automatically refresh them, and therefore changes should appear live.

To stop the application, close the terminal window or run Ctrl + C.