To create your initial skeleton site:

$ jekyll new /public/societies/sample/jekyll
New jekyll site installed in /public/societies/sample/jekyll.

If building to the root of your public_html:

  • Leave baseurl in _config.yaml blank:
baseurl: ""
  • Link the _site build directory to your public_html:
$ ln -s /public/societies/sample/public_html _site

If instead building to a subdirectory:

  • Set baseurl the base path in the URL:
baseurl: "/jekyll"
  • Create and link the _site build directory:
$ mkdir /public/societies/sample/public_html/jekyll
$ ln -s /public/societies/sample/public_html/jekyll _site

Once all configured, run your first build:

$ jekyll build
Configuration file: /public/societies/sample/jekyll/_config.yml
            Source: /public/societies/sample/jekyll
       Destination: /public/societies/sample/jekyll/_site
 Incremental build: disabled. Enable with --incremental
      Generating...
                    done in 0.354 seconds.
 Auto-regeneration: disabled. Use --watch to enable.