GoHugo: time to move on to modules

Hugo Academic: from Theme to Modules

I have a test site in Hugo environment with Academic theme.

The test site is hosted in GitHub.

Since September 2020, the structure of the theme has changed and is now controlled through modules.

This step has also been accompanied by a new name of the site building system: the new name is Wowchemy.

I have found that the official guidelines for converting previous sites are a bit concise, especially for those who are not coders.

Here is the outline that I have followed in order to complete with success the passage under a Linux Mint operating system.

Prerequisite: Go installation

In the classic Academic Hugo theme it wasn’t necessary to have a Go version working into the operating system.

Now it’s necessary.

Then the prerequisite is to install a Go version: go to Golang.org and follow the instructions (dowload the newest release, extract it and adjust the PATH).

The outline: from Academic to Wowchemy

Now you can convert your previuos Academic site to a Wowchemy site, following these steps:

• Place the cursor in the local folder where you store the site (i.e. cd yoursitelocalfolder)
• Remove or de-init the Academic submodules: the fastest solution is the second one:
  • rm -rf themes/academic (which means: force the folder removal)
  • rm -f .gitmodules (which means: force the .gitmodules file removal)
• Trasform your site in a module by typing: hugo mod init github.com/(insert your Github username)/(insert your GitHub projectname)
• Open che config.toml file but be careful that in Academic you will note find it in the root folder but in the config/_defaultsubfolder and add the following code:

[module]
  [[module.imports]]
    path = "github.com/wowchemy/wowchemy-hugo-modules/wowchemy"

• Update the modules with $ hugo mod get -u and everything should be fine.

Now you can enjoy your new Wowchemy modular site by typing the classic hugo serve command and push everything in GitHub with the usual Git procedure.

Thank you for your attention.