Site Source Ownership
Core Idea
Your site has source and output.
- Source: Markdown and configuration under
~/src/, especially~/src/pages/. - Output: generated HTML under
~/public_html/.
Edit source. Rebuild output. If output breaks, rebuild it. If source breaks, fix the source carefully.
Proof Commands
test -d ~/src/pages
test -d ~/public_html
build-website
test -f ~/public_html/index.html
After rebuilding, compare one source file with one output file:
ls ~/src/pages/index.md ~/public_html/index.html
They are related, not identical. Markdown source is meant for humans. HTML output is meant for the browser.
Common Failure
- Editing
~/public_html/index.htmldirectly seems to work, then disappears after the next build. - Committing
~/public_html/records generated output instead of source. - Forgetting
build-websiteleaves the public page behind your source edits.
Done When
You can explain which file you edit, which command rebuilds output, and which generated file the public URL serves.
Docs Pointers
- Read build-website, first site build, and filesystem as CMS.

Linux Foundations