PreTeXt project in subdirectory of git repository

[Matthew Leingang]

Hi everybody,

I have a PreTeXt project in a subdirectory of a github repository, and I'm having trouble deploying to github pages.

The `pretext deploy` script needs to be run in the subdirectory (called `pretext`) in order to find the `project.ptx` file. But when I do this, it initializes a *new* git repository inside the pretext directory, then enters an interactive mode prompting the user to create a new remote repository on GitHub and paste the url. I tried pasting in the existing remote, but it also asked for an authentication token, and even then it didn't work. Plus, I want this to run remotely in a GitHub workflow.

To trick the `pretext deploy` command, I symlinked the top-level .git directory into the pretext directory, and deleted it afterwards. So instead of 

   pretext deploy --no-push

   git push origin gh-pages --force

the steps are

   cd pretext

   ln -s ../.git .

   pretext deploy --no-push

   rm -rf .git

   cd ..

   git push origin gh-pages --force

This seems to work! 

I worked these changes into the workflow file too. 

* Any step where the "run" field is a pretext command has to have the "working-directory: ./pretext" key-value pair added. 

* I added these steps before and after the deploy command:

- name: symlink parent .git to pretext

run: ln -s ../.git .git

working-directory: ./pretext

- name: deploy targets

run: pretext deploy --no-push

working-directory: ./pretext

- name: remove pretext .git symlink

run: rm -f .git

working-directory: ./pretext

You may guess that in the course of drafting this message, I have solved my problem. So my question is basically "Did I do that right?" 

But if I could add a tangential request for enhancement: I think the main pretext command should have an option to specify a project directory other than the directory the command is executed from. And/or: the pretext deploy command should use another way of checking if it's "in" a git repository than looking for a .git subdirectory in the current directory.

Best,

Matthew

--

Matthew Leingang (he/his)
Clinical Professor of Mathematics
Courant Institute School of Mathematics, Computing, and Data Science
New York University

212.998.3107

Schedule an appointment with me at https://calendly.com/leingang