X-Git-Url: http://git.bitcoin.ninja/index.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=CONTRIBUTING.md;h=189f2b8777920a8a762869b456a4b6c60489fcc5;hb=9664be921c4b1d67eee4905640c6ac41fe31ca39;hp=9ddd792b238c57dae399b19d0d1a7abf86e12181;hpb=c4ab6756dd31e1ff969a131d4631a68585962d9e;p=rust-lightning

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 9ddd792b..189f2b87 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -113,6 +113,13 @@ rustup component add clippy
 cargo clippy
 ```
 
+Significant structures which users serialize and store should generally always be prefixed with
+`write_ver_prefix!()`/`read_ver_prefix!()` calls, and suffixed with
+`write_tlv_fields!()`/`read_tlv_fields!()` calls.
+
+Updates to the serialized format which has implications for backwards or forwards compatibility
+must be included in release notes.
+
 Security
 --------