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GSoC 2025 Midterm: Complete Build Retooling of jenkins.io

Birajit Saikia
Birajit Saikia July 24, 2025

Jenkins GSoC Logo

This post details the progress made during the first half of Google Summer of Code 2025 on the Complete Build Retooling of jenkins.io project, which aims to modernize the Jenkins documentation infrastructure.

Table of Contents

  1. Project Objectives

  2. Technical Implementation

    1. Architecture Components

    2. Migration Approach

  3. Progress Highlights

    1. Documentation System (Antora)

    2. Web Platform (Vite.js)

  4. Challenges Overcome

  5. Roadmap Ahead

  6. Acknowledgments

  7. Project Resources

Project Objectives

The initiative focuses on three core improvements to the Jenkins documentation system:

  1. Modernization: Transitioning from legacy tools to contemporary solutions

  2. Performance: Implementing faster build processes

  3. Organization: Establishing clear separation between:

    • Versioned content (tied to LTS releases)

    • Non-versioned content (general documentation)

Technical Implementation

Architecture Components

  • Antora: Chosen for versioned documentation management

  • Vite.js: Selected for non-versioned content after evaluating Gatsby

  • Material UI: Implementing modern UI components

  • YAML: Structured content management for dynamic pages

Migration Approach

The transition strategy involved:

  1. Content Analysis:

    • Comprehensive audit of existing documentation

    • Identification of versioned vs. non-versioned content

  2. Toolchain Implementation:

    • Automated content synchronization via Python scripts

    • Visual diff verification using Beyond Compare

    • Incremental page migration to ensure stability

Progress Highlights

Documentation System (Antora)

  • Successfully synchronized the docs.jenkins.io repository with current content of jenkins.io

  • Resolved many broken navigation links across the documentation

  • Established LTS 2.504x as the new branch with changes up to 25 June

  • Removed deprecated Gatsby infrastructure

Web Platform (Vite.js)

  • Implemented a modern Vite.js foundation with:

    • Preview deployment capabilities

    • Automated branch protection

    • Integrated issue tracking

  • Migrated core pages including:

    • Roadmap

    • Download

    • Events

    • Chat

    • Participate

    • Books

    • Awards

    • Avatars

    • Conduct

    • Mailing Lists

  • Achieved near-perfect visual parity with the current jenkins.io site

  • Introduced system-aware dark/light mode

Challenges Overcome

The migration presented several technical hurdles:

  • Content Structure: Maintaining accurate inter-document relationships during transition

  • Tooling Transition: Smooth migration from Gatsby to Vite.js mid-project

  • UI Consistency: Ensuring pixel-perfect alignment with existing design

  • Workflow Management: Coordinating multiple interdependent PRs

Roadmap Ahead

The final phase will focus on:

  1. Completing the migration of remaining components:

    • Security advisories

    • Changelogs

    • Blog

    • Home page

  2. Performance optimization:

    • Build time improvements

    • Asset delivery optimization

  3. Final integration:

    • Unified platform architecture

    • Comprehensive SEO implementation

Acknowledgments

This project’s progress owes much to the exceptional guidance from my mentors: Kris Stern, Bruno Verachten, Kevin Martens, and Rajiv Singh. Their technical expertise and strategic advice have been instrumental in navigating the project’s complexities.

For me, the learning has been immense — not only in terms of technical depth, but also in strengthening collaboration, communication, and open-source best practices.

Additional thanks to the Jenkins GSoC org admins for their support and for fostering such a collaborative open-source environment.

Project Resources

The second half of GSoC promises exciting developments as we work toward delivering a modern, high-performance documentation platform for the Jenkins community.

About the author

Birajit Saikia

Birajit Saikia

Birajit is currently pursuing a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Newton School of Technology (NST), Pune, India.

With a strong passion for software development, web development, technical documentation, and DevOps, Birajit has been an active contributor to the Jenkins community since November 2024. In 2025, he was selected as a Google Summer of Code (GSoC) contributor for the Jenkins project, working on Complete build retooling of jenkins.io.

Alongside his development work, Birajit has a deep-rooted love for Competitive Programming and Data Structures & Algorithms. He enjoys tackling complex problems, optimizing solutions, and continuously pushing the boundaries of his logical reasoning skills.

Beyond his technical pursuits, Birajit enjoys playing cricket and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.