If I understand correctly, since v4, gem based themes should build with the theme’s config data. I am unable to get this working.
For example, collections defined in the theme aren’t being recognized when the gem is used. If I add the collections into the child’s _config.yml they build as expected.
Is there a setting I’m overlooking for the gem to use the parent’s config data?
I did a test with @mmistakes’s minimal-mistakes theme. It is also not inheriting site config data as I had expected.
Have I misunderstood how this works?
I’ve tried using @ashmaroli’s jekyll-data plugin but that’s not working for me either.
Reading the Pre-configuring Theme-gems section of the docs leads me to believe it is possible. What am I doing wrong?
What is the theme that you’re using?
When you say that you tested with minimal-mistakes theme, did you use the gem-version or the remote-repostory? If it is the gem-version, do note that the gem doesn’t bundle the config file.
I’m building my own theme …or trying to anyway.
When I did a test of the minimal-mistakes theme, I ran jekyll new minimal-mistakes-test, then deleted everything in the config file and added theme: minimal-mistakes-jekyll. What I expected was it would pickup the layout defaults and other things from the config file in the theme. It did not.
In the the minimal-mistakes theme and in my own, both configs are being called during build. Here is an example output:
$ bundle exec jekyll build
Configuration file: /themes/phantom-child/_config.yml
Theme Config file: /themes/phantom/_config.yml
Source: /themes/phantom-child
Destination: /themes/phantom-child/_site
Incremental build: disabled. Enable with --incremental
Generating...
Jekyll Feed: Generating feed for posts
AutoPages: Generating tags pages
AutoPages: Generating categories pages
AutoPages: Generating collections pages
Pagination: Complete, processed 1 pagination page(s)
Liquid Exception: Liquid error (line 7): Cannot sort a null object. in index.html
------------------------------------------------
Jekyll 4.1.0 Please append `--trace` to the `build` command
for any additional information or backtrace.
------------------------------------------------
The “cannot sort a null object” error above is a for loop of a collection. That collection is defined in the theme’s _config.yml.
Okay, there are many roadblocks here.
jekyll-data plugin uses the same merge utility function and moreover has its version of theme-config-import feature disabled when used with Jekyll 4 to avoid conflicts.The theme-config-import was introduced to allow a theme to be designed and used with its own config keys (e.g. {{ site.skin }} , etc) that could then optionally be overridden by the end-user.
The default Liquid filter is an alternative but having a config file meant DRY templates, easier to develop with an array / hash data and that the user need not manually define the variable in their config unless it needed overriding.
If I understand you correctly, by adding the below to the parent-theme’s config, it should then include the portfolio collection in the child-theme without having to redefine it in the child-theme’s config, right?
collections:
portfolio:
output: true
Not exactly.
You can’t use a theme-config to define collections for the theme-user.
Is there documentation about what can be defined? I can’t find anything digging around the docs.
There is no particular documentation about what can be defined but the general doc on the feature is at https://jekyllrb.com/docs/themes/#pre-configuring-theme-gems40
Regarding your query, the answer is that you can use any key that is not a top-level key in Jekyll’s default configuration.
(which is documented at: https://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/default/)
That’s the list I was looking for. I think I might have seen this before but didn’t know what I was looking at. Thanks for the help @ashmaroli.