Rendering discrepancy between ReadTheDocs and localhost - python-sphinx

Question

I have just uploaded my documentation from Github to ReadTheDocs and I have found that it renders completely different on ReadTheDocs and my local machine. I am using the latest sphinx_rtd_theme on my local machine.
Here is the display on my local machine:
and here is the rendering on ReadTheDocs:
I have tried on Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge with the same results so it does not appear to be a browser problem.
Here is a copy of my conf.py:
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#
# Configuration file for the Sphinx documentation builder.
#
# This file does only contain a selection of the most common options. For a
# full list see the documentation:
# http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/config
# -- Path setup --------------------------------------------------------------
# If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
# add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
# documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
#
# import sys
# sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
import os
# -- Project information -----------------------------------------------------
project = 'OrderedTree'
project_title = 'Ordered Tree'
copyright = '2018, Jonathan Gossage'
author = 'Jonathan Gossage'
# The short X.Y version
version = '0.0'
# The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags
release = '0.0.1'
# -- General configuration ---------------------------------------------------
# If your documentation needs a minimal Sphinx version, state it here.
#
# needs_sphinx = '1.0'
# Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
# extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
# ones.
extensions = [
'sphinx.ext.autodoc',
'sphinx.ext.intersphinx',
'sphinx.ext.todo',
'sphinx.ext.mathjax',
'sphinx.ext.ifconfig',
]
# Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
templates_path = ['_templates']
# The suffix(es) of source filenames.
# You can specify multiple suffix as a list of string:
#
# source_suffix = ['.rst', '.md']
source_suffix = '.rst'
# The master toctree document.
master_doc = 'index'
# The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
# for a list of supported languages.
#
# This is also used if you do content translation via gettext catalogs.
# Usually you set "language" from the command line for these cases.
language = None
# List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
# directories to ignore when looking for source files.
# This pattern also affects html_static_path and html_extra_path .
exclude_patterns = []
# The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
pygments_style = 'sphinx'
# Elements to be included at yhe start of each document file
rst_prolog = """
.. |br| raw:: html
<br />
.. |pn| replace:: {}
.. |pt| replace:: {}
""".format(project, project_title)
# -- Options for HTML output -------------------------------------------------
# The theme to use for HTML and HTML Help pages. See the documentation for
# a list of builtin themes.
#
#html_theme = 'sphinx_rtd_theme'
on_rtd = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS') == 'True'
if on_rtd:
html_theme = 'default'
else:
html_theme = 'sphinx_rtd_theme'
# Theme options are theme-specific and customize the look and feel of a theme
# further. For a list of options available for each theme, see the
# documentation.
#
# html_theme_options = {}
# Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
# relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
# so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
if on_rtd:
html_static_path = []
else:
html_static_path = ['_static']
html_context = { # Specify the css file to use
'css_files': ['_static/theme_overrides.css',]
}
# Custom sidebar templates, must be a dictionary that maps document names
# to template names.
#
# The default sidebars (for documents that don't match any pattern) are
# defined by theme itself. Builtin themes are using these templates by
# default: ``['localtoc.html', 'relations.html', 'sourcelink.html',
# 'searchbox.html']``.
#
# html_sidebars = {}
# -- Options for HTMLHelp output ---------------------------------------------
# Output file base name for HTML help builder.
htmlhelp_basename = '{}doc'.format(project)
# -- Options for LaTeX output ------------------------------------------------
latex_elements = {
# The paper size ('letterpaper' or 'a4paper').
#
# 'papersize': 'letterpaper',
# The font size ('10pt', '11pt' or '12pt').
#
# 'pointsize': '10pt',
# Additional stuff for the LaTeX preamble.
#
# 'preamble': '',
# Latex figure (float) alignment
#
# 'figure_align': 'htbp',
}
# Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
# (source start file, target name, title,
# author, documentclass [howto, manual, or own class]).
latex_documents = [
(master_doc, '{}.tex'.format(project), '{} Documentation'.format(project_title),
'{}'.format(author), 'manual'),
]
# -- Options for manual page output ------------------------------------------
# One entry per manual page. List of tuples
# (source start file, name, description, authors, manual section).
man_pages = [
(master_doc, '{}'.format(project), '{} Documentation'.format(project_title),
[author], 1)
]
# -- Options for Texinfo output ----------------------------------------------
# Grouping the document tree into Texinfo files. List of tuples
# (source start file, target name, title, author,
# dir menu entry, description, category)
texinfo_documents = [
(master_doc, '{}'.format(project), '{} Documentation'.format(project_title),
author, '{}'.format(project), 'One line description of project.',
'Miscellaneous'),
]
# -- Options for Epub output -------------------------------------------------
# Bibliographic Dublin Core info.
epub_title = project_title
epub_author = author
epub_publisher = author
epub_copyright = copyright
# The unique identifier of the text. This can be a ISBN number
# or the project homepage.
#
# epub_identifier = ''
# A unique identification for the text.
#
# epub_uid = ''
# A list of files that should not be packed into the epub file.
epub_exclude_files = ['search.html']
# -- Extension configuration -------------------------------------------------
# -- Options for intersphinx extension ---------------------------------------
# Example configuration for intersphinx: refer to the Python standard library.
intersphinx_mapping = {'https://docs.python.org/': None}
# -- Options for todo extension ----------------------------------------------
# If true, `todo` and `todoList` produce output, else they produce nothing.
todo_include_todos = True
I have determined what is causing the problem but I have no idea why it is happening or how to fix it. I am using a boiler-plate fragment of HTML from Creative Commons which identifies the license governing use of the documentation. I took the base sphinx_rtd_theme Footer.html and added this fragment to it and used the modified Footer.html to override the base copy. The fragment follows:
<br /> <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">
<img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png" /></a>
<br />
<p>
This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>
</p>
The fragment actually works as this HTML is correctly rendered on ReadTheDocs but the rest of the formatting disappears.
What do I need to do to get the local display on ReadTheDocs?

Answer 1

Sounds like static assets are not getting copied over on RTD. Let's look at the build log, under python /home/docs/checkouts/readthedocs.org/user_builds/orderedtree/envs/latest/bin/sphinx-build -T -E -b readthedocs -d _build/doctrees-readthedocs -D language=en . _build/html:
copying static files... WARNING: html_static_path entry '/home/docs/checkouts/readthedocs.org/readthedocs/templates/sphinx/_static' does not exist
You know what? That error sounds strangely familiar for some reason....
Let's see the setting in your conf.py:
html_static_path = ['_static']
Try changing that to:
html_static_path = []
Seems to work for about a dozen other users.