Print version of this document (Hua.pdf, 36K).
Hua (simplified Chinese for flower) is a simple, feature-rich, template-based static content generator used for maintaining web sites and blogs.
Written in PowerShell, Hua was originally written in the Ruby scripting language. It was inspired, in part, by the venerable Perl-based blogging tool Blosxom and similar static content generators. Simplicity is a core principle: The database containing site entries, site content, includes, and template files are maintained in plain text. Comments are provided through a third-party engine like Disqus or IntenseDebate. Hua is open source software (MIT License).
Hua has been tested on Windows 10, Ubuntu 22.04 and Cygwin (see note regarding the latter in Using Hua). It should run on any reasonably up-to-date PowerShell installation. An example site (configuration file, entries file, meta info file, and content) is included in the distribution so you can try it out immediately.
Hua supports Markdown using the MarkdownToHTML module. For PDF output, Pandoc and GNU roff (groff) are required.
Hua Revision 287 - Fri Feb 14 2025 Hua.zip, 81K | Hua-dist.tar.gz, 50K
Hua.zip can be used on either Windows or Linux systems. Simply unzip and place it wherever you want.
Hua.tar.gz is intended for use on Linux systems. To install, decompress the file and extract the tar archive. It is designed to be installed in /usr/local. Don't forget to place /usr/local/bin in the executable path and /usr/local/share/man in the manual path. What's installed and where.
The Hua configuration file specifies the locations of support files and variables used by Hua (articles/entries and meta info, output/content/include directories, URLs).
Hua files and config variables:
entries_file Delimited text file of blog entries
meta_file Delimited text file containing blog meta info
content_dir Directory of the blog content
markdown_dir Directory containing the markdown template
output_dir Directory of the blog output HTML
index_file File path of the primary blog page
archive_file File path of page listing all article titles
header_file File path of header include
footer_file File path of footer include
read_more_file File name of 'Read More...' include
comments_file File name of comments include
blog_root The web accessible root of the blog
web_root The web accessible root of the web site
title_sep Character(s) used to separate elements in the title
entries_pp Number of entries per page (for paging)
next_label Label of next page link (replace spaces with )
prev_label Label of previous page link (replace spaces with )
log_dir Directory in which log file is output
log_file File name of log file
entries_file = .\entries.csv
meta_file = .\meta.csv
content_dir = .\content
markdown_dir = .\markdown
output_dir = .\blog
index_file = index.html
archive_file = archive.html
header_file = .\content\inc\header.html
footer_file = .\content\inc\footer.html
read_more_file = .\content\inc\read_more.html
comments_file = .\content\inc\comments.html
blog_root = /blog/
web_root = http://example.local
title_sep = /
entries_pp = 2
next_label = Next Page
prev_label = Previous Page
log_dir = .
log_file = hua.log
The entries file is a comma-delimited plain-text database of articles. It can be edited with a text editor or a spreadsheet application (provided the plain-text format is preserved). Each line consists of the following fields:
content_dir.http://) or email (precede with mailto:) associated with the article.Article meta information is stored in a separate, pipe-delimited file. Like the entries file, it can be edited with a text editor or a spreadsheet application (provided the plain-text format is preserved). Each line consists of the following fields:
-A or --article followed by an article ID to generate only that article. This is useful when an article is in development and requires review. It is also significantly faster. Only the article matching the ID is is generated. Index, archive, and tagged-with files are not updated in this mode. Note Article ID must be contained within quotes.-G or --groff in article mode to output GNU roff (groff) code (in addition to HTML) for the specified article. This mode is reliant upon Pandoc being installed and in the system path. On Linux systems Hua automatically produces a PDF provided pdfroff (included with groff) is in the system path.-O or --orphans as the second argument to list all files (irrespective of type) in the output_dir that are not referenced in the entries_file (typically *.html and *.md). If there are no orphans, nothing is output. Content is not processed in this mode.-V or --version as the first argument to show Hua's version information.On Windows Hua is run by by specifying the Hua script and configuration file. In the example below it is assumed the user has unzipped and changed to the Hua directory:
>pwsh hua.ps1 example.cfg
The same in a PowerShell console:
$ .\hua.ps1 example.cfg
Hua can be run in a Cygwin console as well. Note that PowerShell 7.4 (or above) should be used.
$ pwsh hua.ps1 example.cfg
On Linux, with the archive expanded to /usr/local, the sample content can be used to generate a blog with the following commands:
$ mkdir temp $ cd temp $ cp /usr/local/share/hua/example.cfg . $ cp -r /usr/local/share/hua/content . $ mkdir blog $ hua example.cfg
Article mode (only article ID 00041 is processed):
$ .\hua.ps1 example.cfg -A '00041'
Article and groff mode (article ID 00041 HTML and groff is output):
$ .\hua.ps1 example.cfg -A '00041' -G
Converting groff to PDF:
$ pdfroff -ms -mpdfmark -mspdf article.ms > article.pdf
Orphans mode:
$ .\hua.ps1 example.cfg -O another-orphan.html orphan-1.html
Version information:
$ .\hua.ps1 -V Hua version: $Revision: 287 $
Hua is normally silent, so if everything goes well, nothing is output on the command line and Hua exits with a status of 0. Errors are output in the following situations:
1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.There are no known issues at this time.
All articles tagged with Hua on the blog.