A simple static site generator written in Bash
BSSG processes Markdown files and builds a minimal, accessible website suitable for personal journals, daily writing, or introspective personal newspapers. Started in 2015 by Stefano Marinelli as a personal project and maintained privately for many years, it has grown to become what is likely the largest static site generator written in Bash.
Features
Everything you need to create a personal website or blog
Markdown Content
Generate HTML from Markdown using commonmark, pandoc or markdown.pl (configurable).
Post Metadata
Support for post metadata including title, date, tags, and descriptions for previews.
Date & Time Support
Full date and time support with timezone awareness for accurate publishing dates.
Tag & Archive Pages
Automatically creates tag index pages and archives by year and month for easy browsing.
Dynamic Menu Generation
Automatically generates menus based on available pages with primary and secondary organization.
Sitemap & RSS
Generates sitemap.xml and RSS feed with timezone support for better content discovery.
Multiple Themes
Choose from over 50 built-in themes including modern, retro computing, OS-inspired, and more.
Cross-Platform
Works on Linux, macOS, and BSD systems with automatic OS detection.
Performance Optimized
Incremental builds, metadata caching, and parallel processing for fast site generation.
Featured Images
Support for featured images in posts displayed in index, tag, and archive pages.
Draft Posts
Draft post support with editing capabilities and easy publishing workflow.
Backup & Restore
Built-in backup and restore functionality for all your posts, pages, and config.
Getting Started
Create your site in minutes with these simple steps
1. Clone the repository
git clone https://brew.bsd.cafe/stefano/BSSG.git cd BSSG
2. Create your first post
./bssg.sh post
3. Build the site
./bssg.sh build
4. View your site locally (if you have Python installed)
cd output python3 -m http.server 8000
Your site will be available at http://localhost:8000 for preview.
Requirements
BSSG requires the following tools:
- Bash
- commonmark, pandoc or markdown.pl (configurable)
- Standard Unix utilities (awk, sed, grep, find, date)
Installation on Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install bash pandoc coreutils findutils grep gawk sed cmark
Installation on macOS (using Homebrew):
brew install bash pandoc coreutils findutils grep gawk gnu-sed cmark
For complete documentation on installation and configuration, please refer to our comprehensive documentation.
Usage
Simple commands to manage your site
Available Commands
Usage: ./bssg.sh command [options]
Commands:
post [-html] [draft_file] Create a new post or continue editing a draft
Use -html to edit in HTML instead of Markdown
page [-html] [draft_file] Create a new page or continue editing a draft
Use -html to edit in HTML instead of Markdown
edit [-n|-f] <post_file> Edit an existing post
Use -n to give the post a new name if title changes
Use -f to edit the full HTML file (advanced)
delete [-f] <post_file> Delete a post
Use -f to skip confirmation
list List all posts
tags [-n] List all tags
Use -n to sort by number of posts
drafts List all draft posts
backup Create a backup of all posts, pages, and config
restore [backup_file|ID] Restore from a backup
build Build the site
help Show this help message
Creating Content
Create posts and pages in Markdown or HTML with powerful frontmatter options for metadata.
Managing Posts
List, edit, and organize your content with easy commands for content management.
Themes
Customize the look of your site with over 50 built-in themes
BSSG includes a variety of themes to customize the look of your site. Set your chosen theme in the config.sh.local file:
THEME="your-theme-name"
Theme Categories
Modern Themes
Clean, contemporary designs including default, minimal, dark, flat, material, art-deco, bauhaus, mid-century, swiss-design, nordic-clean, braun, and mondrian.
Retro Computing
Nostalgic themes inspired by classic computers: amiga500, apple2, atarist, c64, msdos, terminal, zxspectrum, nes, gameboy, mario and tty.
OS-Inspired
Themes based on operating systems: beos, macclassic, macos9, nextstep, osx, win311, win95, win7, and winxp.
Web Era Themes
Capture the aesthetic of different web eras: web1, web2, vaporwave, y2k, and bbs.
Content-Focused
Optimized for reading: docs, longform, reader-mode, and text-only.
Special Themes
Unique designs: brutalist, newspaper, diary, and random (selects a different theme each build).
Theme Preview Generator
Generate examples of all available themes with your content
BSSG includes a script to generate previews of all available themes. This helps you see how each theme looks with your content before deciding which one to use.
Generate Theme Previews
./generate_theme_previews.sh
This will create a directory called example/ containing subdirectories for each theme, along with an index.html file that allows you to navigate between them.
Custom Site URL
./generate_theme_previews.sh --site-url "https://example.com/blog"
Each theme preview will be accessible at SITE_URL/theme (e.g., https://example.com/blog/dark).
The script pulls the SITE_URL from these sources in order of precedence:
- Command line argument (--site-url)
- Local config file (config.sh.local)
- Main config file (config.sh)
- Default value (http://localhost)
Performance Features
Built for efficiency even with large sites
Incremental Builds
BSSG intelligently rebuilds only what has changed, checking source files, templates, and configuration.
Metadata Caching
Maintains a cache of extracted metadata from markdown files to reduce repeated parsing for faster builds.
Parallel Processing
Automatically uses GNU parallel (if available) to process multiple files simultaneously using available CPU cores.
File Locking
Implements file locking for safe concurrent operations when multiple processes access the same files.
Enable Parallel Processing
To take advantage of parallel processing for faster builds, install GNU parallel:
# Debian/Ubuntu sudo apt-get install parallel # macOS brew install parallel # FreeBSD pkg install parallel
BSSG will automatically detect and use parallel processing when available, significantly speeding up builds for larger sites.
Admin Interface
Manage your blog with a user-friendly interface
BSSG will include an admin interface for managing your blog with these planned features:
WYSIWYG Editor
Create and edit posts with a user-friendly Markdown editor.
Post Scheduling
Schedule posts for future publication with an easy-to-use calendar interface.
Statistics
View statistics about your blog including post count, tag usage, and more.
Get Involved
Join the community, contribute, and stay updated