XEarthLayer Website

The official website for XEarthLayer - stunning photoreal scenery for X-Plane 12.

Live site: https://xearthlayer.app

Development

This site is built with Hugo.

Prerequisites

• Hugo v0.153+ (extended version)

Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/samsoir/xearthlayer-website.git
cd xearthlayer-website

# Start the development server
hugo server -D

# Open http://localhost:1313

Building

hugo --gc --minify

The built site will be in the public/ directory.

Deployment

The site is automatically deployed to GitHub Pages when changes are pushed to the main branch.

Package Library Sync

The package library and documentation are automatically synced from xearthlayer-regional-scenery.

How It Works

Regional Scenery Repo                    Website Repo
─────────────────────                    ────────────
Push to main          ──────────────►    sync-packages.yml
(library updated)     repository_dispatch     │
                                              ▼
                                         Fetch library
                                         Update packages.md
                                         Commit changes
                                              │
                                              ▼
                                         deploy.yml
                                              │
                                              ▼
                                         Live at xearthlayer.app

Sync Triggers

Trigger	Description
repository_dispatch	Immediate sync when regional-scenery pushes updates
schedule	Daily at 00:00 UTC (fallback)
workflow_dispatch	Manual trigger via GitHub Actions

Files Updated

File	Source	Description
static/packages/xearthlayer_package_library.txt	Regional scenery repo	Package index for CLI
static/images/coverage.png	Regional scenery repo	Coverage map image
content/docs/packages.md	Auto-generated	Regions table, coverage map, legend

Data Files

The sync workflow uses these files from the regional-scenery repo:

• xearthlayer_package_library.txt - Package index with versions and download URLs
• region_metadata.json - Region names, coverage descriptions, and colors
• coverage.png - Coverage map image

The legend (e.g., "NA in blue, EU in orange") is generated dynamically from region_metadata.json.

App Version Sync

Download links on the Getting Started page are automatically updated when new XEarthLayer versions are released.

How It Works

XEarthLayer Main Repo                   Website Repo
─────────────────────                   ────────────
Release v0.x.x        ──────────────►   sync-version.yml
(tag pushed)          repository_dispatch     │
                                              ▼
                                         Fetch version.json
                                         Update getting-started.md
                                         Commit changes
                                              │
                                              ▼
                                         deploy.yml
                                              │
                                              ▼
                                         Live at xearthlayer.app

Files Updated

• content/docs/getting-started.md - Download links with correct version numbers

Data File

The main xearthlayer repo contains version.json with current release info:

{
  "version": "0.2.9",
  "tag": "v0.2.9",
  "assets": {
    "deb": { "filename": "xearthlayer_0.2.9-1_amd64.deb" },
    "rpm": { "filename": "xearthlayer-0.2.9-1.fc43.x86_64.rpm" }
  }
}

Required Secrets

Both the regional-scenery repo and the main xearthlayer repo need WEBSITE_DISPATCH_TOKEN to trigger website updates:

Secret	Source Repo	Purpose
WEBSITE_DISPATCH_TOKEN	xearthlayer-regional-scenery	Trigger package sync
WEBSITE_DISPATCH_TOKEN	xearthlayer	Trigger version sync

Token Configuration:

• Fine-grained PAT with contents: write for this repo
• Expires every 90 days (set calendar reminder)

Custom Domain

The site is configured for the xearthlayer.app domain. DNS configuration:

1. Add a CNAME record pointing to samsoir.github.io
2. Or add A records pointing to GitHub Pages IPs

License

MIT License - see LICENSE