X-Git-Url: http://git.bitcoin.ninja/index.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=CONTRIBUTING.md;h=3cf463ba02e220b7f1e12605398c344fc3d79628;hb=refs%2Fheads%2F2021-07-broken-beta;hp=b270492bf44cbb6e717d07f5699672ea0c694b31;hpb=83322e1c0dbf83b16d7f38de0bcf8e9b82063480;p=rust-lightning

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index b270492b..3cf463ba 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -24,6 +24,31 @@ requests.
 Major projects are tracked [here](https://github.com/rust-bitcoin/rust-lightning/projects).
 Major milestones are tracked [here](https://github.com/rust-bitcoin/rust-lightning/milestones?direction=asc&sort=title&state=open).
 
+Getting Started
+---------------
+
+First and foremost, start small.
+
+This doesn't mean don't be ambitious with the breadth and depth of your contributions but rather
+understand the project culture before investing an asymmetric number of hours on
+development compared to your merged work.
+
+Browsing through the [meeting minutes](https://github.com/rust-bitcoin/rust-lightning/wiki/Meetings)
+is a good first step. You will learn who is working on what, how releases are drafted, what are the
+pending tasks to deliver, where you can contribute review bandwidth, etc.
+
+Even if you have an extensive open source background or sound software engineering skills, consider
+that the reviewers' comprehension of the code is as much important as technical correctness.
+
+It's very welcome to ask for review, either on IRC or LDK Slack. And also for reviewers, it's nice
+to provide timelines when you hope to fulfill the request while bearing in mind for both sides that's
+a "soft" commitment.
+
+If you're eager to increase the velocity of the dev process, reviewing other contributors work is
+the best you can do while waiting review on yours.
+
+Also, getting familiar with the [glossary](GLOSSARY.md) will streamline discussions with regular contributors.
+
 Contribution Workflow
 ---------------------
 
@@ -50,8 +75,7 @@ be covered by functional tests.
 When refactoring, structure your PR to make it easy to review and don't
 hestitate to split it into multiple small, focused PRs.
 
-The Minimal Supported Rust Version is 1.30.0 (enforced by our Travis and
-GitHub Actions).
+The Minimal Supported Rust Version is 1.36.0 (enforced by our GitHub Actions).
 
 Commits should cover both the issue fixed and the solution's rationale.
 These [guidelines](https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/) should be kept in mind.
@@ -77,6 +101,26 @@ Coding Conventions
 Use tabs. If you want to align lines, use spaces. Any desired alignment should
 display fine at any tab-length display setting.
 
+Our CI enforces [clippy's](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-clippy) default linting
+[settings](https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-clippy/rust-1.39.0/index.html).
+This includes all lint groups except for nursery, pedantic, and cargo in addition to allowing the following lints:
+`erasing_op`, `never_loop`, `if_same_then_else`.
+
+If you use rustup, feel free to lint locally, otherwise you can just push to CI for automated linting.
+
+```bash
+rustup component add clippy
+cargo clippy
+```
+
+Significant structures that users persist should always have their serialization methods (usually
+`Writeable::write` and `ReadableArgs::read`) begin with
+`write_ver_prefix!()`/`read_ver_prefix!()` calls, and end with calls to
+`write_tlv_fields!()`/`read_tlv_fields!()`.
+
+Updates to the serialized format which has implications for backwards or forwards compatibility
+must be included in release notes.
+
 Security
 --------