Build Sovereign

Build Sovereignhttps://buildsovereign.xyz/Recent content on Build SovereignHugoen-gbWed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Benchmarking EU-hosted static site generatorshttps://buildsovereign.xyz/articles/benchmarking-eu-hosted-static-site-generators/Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://buildsovereign.xyz/articles/benchmarking-eu-hosted-static-site-generators/<p>This benchmark compares three static site generators — Hugo, Jekyll, and Eleventy — on build time and output size, using the same content (this blog’s current article set). The question is not just “which is fastest” but “which sovereignty posture does each tool imply?”</p> <h2 id="build-time">Build time</h2> <p>Build times measured on a single core, cold cache, with <code>--gc --minify</code> (Hugo), <code>--incremental</code> disabled (Jekyll), and default build (Eleventy).</p> <table> <thead> <tr> <th>Generator</th> <th>Build time (ms)</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Hugo</td> <td>27</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jekyll</td> <td>3400</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Eleventy</td> <td>2100</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div class="chart-container" role="img" aria-label="Build time comparison across Hugo, Jekyll, and Eleventy"> <canvas id="build-time-chart" data-chart-type="bar"></canvas> <script type="application/json" id="build-time-chart-data">{ "labels": ["Hugo", "Jekyll", "Eleventy"], "datasets": [{ "label": "Build time (ms)", "data": [27, 3400, 2100], "backgroundColor": ["#002068", "#4F1100", "#5F5F5F"] }] }</script> <script src="https://buildsovereign.xyz/js/chart.umd.min.js"></script> <script src="https://buildsovereign.xyz/js/chart-init.js"></script> </div> <noscript> *Chart unavailable without JavaScript. The data table above shows the same values.* </noscript> <h2 id="output-size">Output size</h2> <p>Total output size (HTML + CSS + assets, minified) for the same content set.</p>Abouthttps://buildsovereign.xyz/about/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://buildsovereign.xyz/about/<p>Build Sovereign is a blog about data sovereignty — data ownership, GDPR, privacy, and European tech. It is published under the Build Sovereign brand of RightThing Studio, a registered European company.</p> <h2 id="the-authors-pseudonymity">The author’s pseudonymity</h2> <p>Build Sovereign is written by a single author who publishes under a pseudonym. The byline on every article is “Build Sovereign” — the brand — not a personal name.</p> <p>This choice is deliberate. This blog argues for data sovereignty, including the author’s own right to control their personal data, including identity. Pseudonymity is a sovereignty practice, not an evasion: the author’s identity is controlled by the author, not exposed as a byline artifact on every page.</p>Colophonhttps://buildsovereign.xyz/colophon/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://buildsovereign.xyz/colophon/<p>This colophon documents every infrastructure choice behind Build Sovereign. The blog writes about data sovereignty; its own infrastructure is the first argument it makes. Every choice below is verifiable by inspecting this site’s source on <a href="https://github.com/Stf-F/build-sovereign-content">GitHub</a>.</p> <h2 id="static-site-generator">Static site generator</h2> <p><strong><a href="https://gohugo.io">Hugo</a></strong> — a single signed Go binary with no runtime dependencies. No <code>npm</code>, no <code>gem</code> toolchain, no transitive dependency tree. The build is <code>hugo --gc --minify</code> and nothing else. A saved Hugo binary continues to produce the same HTML years from now even if upstream goes away — important for a blog whose archive is itself a sovereignty argument.</p>Legalhttps://buildsovereign.xyz/legal/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://buildsovereign.xyz/legal/<h2 id="imprint">Imprint</h2> <p><strong>Build Sovereign</strong> is a brand of <strong>RightThing Studio</strong>, a registered European company.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Legal entity:</strong> RightThing Studio</li> <li><strong>Registered address:</strong> [REGISTERED ADDRESS — to be filled before publishing]</li> <li><strong>Commercial register number:</strong> [COMMERCIAL REGISTER NUMBER — to be filled]</li> <li><strong>Register court:</strong> [REGISTER COURT — to be filled]</li> <li><strong>Contact email:</strong> <a href="mailto:build-sovereign@proton.me">build-sovereign@proton.me</a></li> <li><strong>X:</strong> <a href="https://x.com/buildsovereign">@buildsovereign</a></li> </ul> <blockquote> <p><strong>Note:</strong> The fields marked “to be filled” are placeholders. They will be replaced with the registered entity details before this page is linked from the footer. This satisfies §5 TMG / §18 MStV once the fields are completed.</p>Privacyhttps://buildsovereign.xyz/privacy/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://buildsovereign.xyz/privacy/<p>Build Sovereign is a blog about data sovereignty. Its privacy posture is the first exhibit of that thesis: the site collects the minimum data technically necessary, processes it under EU jurisdiction, and sends no data to third-party trackers.</p> <h2 id="hosting">Hosting</h2> <p>This site is served from a self-hosted EU VPS under our control, running nginx. TLS is provided via Let’s Encrypt. The VPS is in EU jurisdiction. No third-party CDN, no cloud-front proxy, and no US-based serving layer processes reader requests. Source is canonical on <a href="https://github.com/Stf-F/build-sovereign-content">GitHub</a>; the build runs on the same VPS that serves the site.</p>Projectshttps://buildsovereign.xyz/projects/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://buildsovereign.xyz/projects/<p>RightThing Studio builds products in the sovereignty vertical alongside the Build Sovereign blog. These are sibling products — the build-sovereign X handle and Promotional-vein articles point to them when the author is ready to promote.</p> <p>This page is not linked from the navigation, footer, or homepage. It is accessible by direct URL and manually linkable from Promotional articles.</p> <h2 id="project-a--seo-automation-on-eu-tech">Project A — SEO automation on EU tech</h2> <p>An SEO automation tool built on EU-hosted infrastructure. The product automates search-optimization workflows for content teams, with all data processing under EU jurisdiction. Self-hosted in Germany.</p>