Run MkDocs - Read the Docs Alternative - in Docker 🌱

What is MkDocs?

MkDocs is a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file. It is designed to be easy to use and can be extended with third-party themes, plugins, and Markdown extensions. - https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs

Installing Docker

1. Log into the Linux based device
2. Run the following commands in the terminal
   # install prerequisites
   sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates git curl software-properties-common gnupg-agent -y
   # add docker gpg key
   curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/$(awk -F'=' '/^ID=/{ print $NF }' /etc/os-release)/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
   # add docker software repository
   sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)] https://download.docker.com/linux/$(awk -F'=' '/^ID=/{ print $NF }' /etc/os-release) $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
   # install docker
   sudo apt install docker-ce docker-compose containerd.io -y
   # enable and start docker service
   sudo systemctl enable docker && sudo systemctl start docker
   # add the current user to the docker group
   sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
   # reauthenticate for the new group membership to take effect
   su - $USER

Running MkDocs

1. Now that Docker is installed, run the following commands to setup the MkDocs Docker container and run it
   # create working directory
   mkdir ~/docker/mkdocs
   # set owner of working directories
   sudo chown "$USER":"$USER" ~/docker -R
   # allow the container to write to working directories
   sudo chmod a+rwx -R ~/docker/mkdocs
   # run mkdocs container
   docker run -d --name=mkdocs -p 8000:8000 -v ~/docker/mkdocs/:/mkdocs --restart=unless-stopped polinux/mkdocs
2. Open a web browser and navigate to http://DNSorIP:8000
3. Welcome to MkDocs running in Docker

Read the Docs Theme

1. Back in the terminal, continue with the following commands
   # stop the container
   docker stop mkdocs
   # edit the mkdocs configuration file
   sudo nano ~/docker/mkdocs/mkdocs.yml
2. Add the following line to mkdocs.yml

   theme: readthedocs

3. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes
4. Run the following command to see the change
   # restart the container
   docker start mkdocs
5. Back in the web browser, refresh the mkdocs page

Source: https://www.mkdocs.org/getting-started/
Documentation: https://hub.docker.com/r/polinux/mkdocs