How does one downgrade jekyll to work with github pages?

Question

I think my main issue is that jekyll 4 is not support by github pages. That is fine with me, but how do I downgrade jekyll to work regardless?

I tried following the instructions here: https://github.com/github/pages-gem/issues/577

which basically seem to suggest to use an older version of jekyll. Im fine with doing that but it seems bundle refuses to obey me and I don't know why or I get into a weird loop I can't get out of.

So the main error I get is:

$ bundle
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/..........
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.
You have requested:
  jekyll ~> 3.8.5

The bundle currently has jekyll locked at 4.0.0.
Try running `bundle update jekyll`

If you are updating multiple gems in your Gemfile at once,
try passing them all to `bundle update`

but it seems that I am locked to 4. I tried unlocking but I can't seem to get that to work. My most recent attempt is the following:

$ gem install jekyll -v 3.8.5
Fetching kramdown-1.17.0.gem
Fetching jekyll-3.8.5.gem
Fetching sass-listen-4.0.0.gem
Fetching sass-3.7.4.gem
Fetching jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2.gem
Fetching i18n-0.9.5.gem
Successfully installed kramdown-1.17.0
Successfully installed sass-listen-4.0.0

Ruby Sass has reached end-of-life and should no longer be used.

* If you use Sass as a command-line tool, we recommend using Dart Sass, the new
  primary implementation: https://sass-lang.com/install

* If you use Sass as a plug-in for a Ruby web framework, we recommend using the
  sassc gem: https://github.com/sass/sassc-ruby#readme

* For more details, please refer to the Sass blog:
  https://sass-lang.com/blog/posts/7828841

Successfully installed sass-3.7.4
Successfully installed jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2
Successfully installed i18n-0.9.5
Successfully installed jekyll-3.8.5
Parsing documentation for kramdown-1.17.0
Installing ri documentation for kramdown-1.17.0
Parsing documentation for sass-listen-4.0.0
Installing ri documentation for sass-listen-4.0.0
Parsing documentation for sass-3.7.4
Installing ri documentation for sass-3.7.4
Parsing documentation for jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2
Installing ri documentation for jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2
Parsing documentation for i18n-0.9.5
Installing ri documentation for i18n-0.9.5
Parsing documentation for jekyll-3.8.5
Installing ri documentation for jekyll-3.8.5
Done installing documentation for kramdown, sass-listen, sass, jekyll-sass-converter, i18n, jekyll after 8 seconds
6 gems installed

but then after I tried to bundle my Gemfile using the command bundle I get the following error:

$ gem install jekyll -v 3.8.5
Fetching kramdown-1.17.0.gem
Fetching jekyll-3.8.5.gem
Fetching sass-listen-4.0.0.gem
Fetching sass-3.7.4.gem
Fetching jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2.gem
Fetching i18n-0.9.5.gem
Successfully installed kramdown-1.17.0
Successfully installed sass-listen-4.0.0

Ruby Sass has reached end-of-life and should no longer be used.

* If you use Sass as a command-line tool, we recommend using Dart Sass, the new
  primary implementation: https://sass-lang.com/install

* If you use Sass as a plug-in for a Ruby web framework, we recommend using the
  sassc gem: https://github.com/sass/sassc-ruby#readme

* For more details, please refer to the Sass blog:
  https://sass-lang.com/blog/posts/7828841

Successfully installed sass-3.7.4
Successfully installed jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2
Successfully installed i18n-0.9.5
Successfully installed jekyll-3.8.5
Parsing documentation for kramdown-1.17.0
Installing ri documentation for kramdown-1.17.0
Parsing documentation for sass-listen-4.0.0
Installing ri documentation for sass-listen-4.0.0
Parsing documentation for sass-3.7.4
Installing ri documentation for sass-3.7.4
Parsing documentation for jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2
Installing ri documentation for jekyll-sass-converter-1.5.2
Parsing documentation for i18n-0.9.5
Installing ri documentation for i18n-0.9.5
Parsing documentation for jekyll-3.8.5
Installing ri documentation for jekyll-3.8.5
Done installing documentation for kramdown, sass-listen, sass, jekyll-sass-converter, i18n, jekyll after 8 seconds
6 gems installed

ok fine I'll try to update and I do bundle update:

$ bundle update
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/...........
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.
Resolving dependencies....
Bundler could not find compatible versions for gem "jekyll":
  In Gemfile:
    github-pages was resolved to 4, which depends on
      jekyll (= 1.1.2)

    jekyll-feed (~> 0.12) was resolved to 0.12.1, which depends on
      jekyll (>= 3.7, < 5.0)

Bundler could not find compatible versions for gem "jekyll-feed":
  In Gemfile:
    github-pages was resolved to 36, which depends on
      jekyll-feed (= 0.2.3)

    minima (~> 2.5) was resolved to 2.5.0, which depends on
      jekyll-feed (~> 0.9)

Bundler could not find compatible versions for gem "tzinfo":
  In Gemfile:
    tzinfo (~> 1.2)

    tzinfo-data was resolved to 1.2019.3, which depends on
      tzinfo (>= 1.0.0)

which gets me stuck...any ideas what to do?

I also tried to follow the instructions in my Gemfile with no success:

$ bundle update github-pages
Could not find gem 'github-pages'.

by running the command they say, I get the error:

$ bundle update github-pages
Could not find gem 'github-pages'.

---

I also ran this bundle install:

$ bundle install
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/...........
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.
Resolving dependencies...
Bundler could not find compatible versions for gem "jekyll-feed":
  In snapshot (Gemfile.lock):
    jekyll-feed (= 0.12.1)

  In Gemfile:
    github-pages was resolved to 36, which depends on
      jekyll-feed (= 0.2.3)

    minima (~> 2.5) was resolved to 2.5.1, which depends on
      jekyll-feed (~> 0.9)

Running `bundle update` will rebuild your snapshot from scratch, using only
the gems in your Gemfile, which may resolve the conflict.

Bundler could not find compatible versions for gem "kramdown":
  In snapshot (Gemfile.lock):
    kramdown (= 2.1.0)

  In Gemfile:
    github-pages was resolved to 8, which depends on
      kramdown (= 1.0.2)

    minima (~> 2.5) was resolved to 2.5.1, which depends on
      jekyll-feed (~> 0.9) was resolved to 0.12.1, which depends on
        jekyll (>= 3.7, < 5.0) was resolved to 4.0.0, which depends on
          kramdown (~> 2.1)

Running `bundle update` will rebuild your snapshot from scratch, using only
the gems in your Gemfile, which may resolve the conflict.

Bundler could not find compatible versions for gem "minima":
  In snapshot (Gemfile.lock):
    minima (= 2.5.1)

  In Gemfile:
    minima (~> 2.5)

    github-pages was resolved to 94, which depends on
      minima (= 1.0.1)

Running `bundle update` will rebuild your snapshot from scratch, using only
the gems in your Gemfile, which may resolve the conflict.

---

I also did:

gem install github-pages

which installed...not sure if this made things worse...

---

Resources I've used to help me:

• https://github.com/github/pages-gem/issues/577
• https://github.com/github/pages-gem/issues/555
• https://talk.jekyllrb.com/t/unlock-bundle-from-jekyll-version/3508
• How can I install an older version of Jekyll?
• https://github.com/github/pages-gem/issues/651
• https://help.github.com/en/github/working-with-github-pages/creating-a-github-pages-site-with-jekyll#creating-your-site

but none have solved my issue yet.

Answer 1

Your Gemfile should look like :

source 'https://rubygems.org'

# will install all gh-pages allowed gems
# see : https://pages.github.com/versions/
gem 'github-pages'

# comment out all other gems
# gem 'jekyll'
# gem 'jekyll-feed'
# gem ...

Remove Gemfile.lock

You can now do a bundle and it will install all needed gems to test against actual github-pages version.

Answer 2

The current version of github pages requires you set use Jekyll 3.8.5 and github-pages 202. When I set this up, I also had to set a specific version for jekyll feed. Here's the relevant lines you need in your Gemfile:

gem "jekyll", "~> 3.8.5"
gem "github-pages","~> 202" , group: :jekyll_plugins
# If you have any plugins, put them here!
group :jekyll_plugins do
  gem "jekyll-feed", "~> 0.11.0"
end

After that, try removing your Gemfile.lock and running bundle install.

I have a repo here with a minimal version set up.