Graphviz Docs

This is the documentation repository for https://graphviz.org, the GraphViz Graph Visualization Software.

Docs are built from Markdown using the Hugo static site generator and the Docsy technical documentation theme.

There are a few ways to contribute, ranging from simple to most complex:

Easiest: Contributing Simple One-Page Fixes

Most pages on https://graphviz.org/ have an "Edit this page" link at the top-right, which opens the GitLab file editor.

Moderately Complex Multi-File Changes

Use GitLab's Web IDE if you need to upload files (e.g. images under static/doc) or edit multiple files at once.

Commit your change with Commit... and create a merge request.

Complex Changes: Serving the Docs Locally During Development

For the most complex changes, you'll want to copy the repository to your local machine for development. Here's how:

Install Hugo (Static Site Generator Framework)

• Download a recent extended edition of Hugo (Graphviz's doc requires SCSS, only present in the extended edition) from https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/releases. You may need to scroll down the list of releases to see the extended edition.

  • macOS users can install with Homebrew: brew install hugo

Install Git

https://git-scm.com/downloads

Clone the Graphviz Docs

Fork a copy of the Graphviz docs repo on GitLab.

• Clone the main repository:

  $ git clone --recursive https://gitlab.com/graphviz/graphviz.gitlab.io
  $ cd graphviz.gitlab.io

Create a development branch

$ git checkout -b my-branch

Run the development server

• Run hugo serve to start the local web server.

• Open the site at http://localhost:1313/ in your browser.

Detailed instructions for how to run Docsy locally are at Docsy's Getting Started page.

Edit the files

As you edit, the site should re-compile automatically. Reloading the browser should show the new site output.

Create a merge request

Make a commit of your changes, giving them a message:

$ git commit --all -m "replace me with a descriptive commit message"

Push your changes to your fork (replace <username> with your Gitlab username):

$ git push ssh://git@gitlab.com/<username>/graphviz.gitlab.io my-branch

The git push command will print a URL. Open that URL to create a Merge Request in the GitLab UI.

Get a review

A maintainer should review the change within a few days, and merge it into the mainline. Once merged, your change will be live on graphviz.org within minutes.