bamcgill.github.io — Jekyll Blog

Migrated from Blogspot (barrymcgillin.blogspot.com) → Jekyll + GitHub Pages.

What's Here

• _posts/ — 91 published blog posts (2007–2019), converted to Markdown
• _drafts/ — 14 draft posts (including your SQLcl MCP server post from July 2025)
• _config.yml — Site configuration (Minimal Mistakes theme, dark skin)
• _pages/ — About, Tags, Categories pages
• _data/navigation.yml — Top nav bar
• assets/images/avatar.jpg — Your profile photo
• assets/images/posts/ — Blog images from the Blogger export

How to Deploy

Option 1: Push directly to GitHub (quickest)

# Clone your existing repo
git clone git@github.com:bamcgill/bamcgill.github.io.git
cd bamcgill.github.io

# Remove the old placeholder content
git rm -rf .
git clean -fd

# Copy the Jekyll site contents into the repo root
cp -r /path/to/this/jekyll_site/* .
cp -r /path/to/this/jekyll_site/.* . 2>/dev/null

# Commit and push
git add -A
git commit -m "Migrate blog from Blogspot to Jekyll + Minimal Mistakes"
git push origin main

GitHub Pages will build the site automatically. Give it a couple of minutes, then visit https://bamcgill.github.io

Option 2: Test locally first

# Install Ruby and Bundler if needed
gem install bundler

# Install dependencies
bundle install

# Run locally
bundle exec jekyll serve

# Visit http://localhost:4000

Custom Domain

To use a custom domain (e.g., blog.barrymcgillin.com):

1. Create a CNAME file in the repo root containing just the domain name
2. Add a CNAME DNS record pointing your domain to bamcgill.github.io
3. Enable HTTPS in GitHub repo Settings → Pages

Publishing Drafts

To publish a draft, move it from _drafts/ to _posts/. The filename already has the date prefix, so it's ready to go.

Images

Post images currently reference Blogger-hosted URLs, which will continue working. The assets/images/posts/ folder contains local copies if you want to update the image references later for full self-hosting.

Theme Customisation

The site uses the Minimal Mistakes theme (dark skin). To change the skin, edit minimal_mistakes_skin in _config.yml. Options: air, aqua, contrast, dark, default, dirt, mint, neon, plum, sunrise.

Notes

• The Coderdojoomagh blog was also in the export but not included here. Let me know if you want that migrated too.
• Some older posts have HTML artefacts from Blogspot's editor — these are cosmetic and can be cleaned up over time.
• Update the LinkedIn URL in _config.yml if yours differs.