Add contribution guidelines

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/generic.md

@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
----
-name: Generic
-about: Issue template for generic issues
-title: ''
-labels: question
-assignees: ''
-
----
-
-

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+Contribution Instructions
+=========================
+
+This project welcomes contributions. Contributions are managed through GitHub
+pull requests.
+
+# Issue guidelines
+
+If you find an issue with any code in this project, feel free to open an issue.
+Templates exist for bug reports and feature requests.
+
+# Pull request guidelines
+
+* Fork this repository.
+* Create a branch off master, and make your commits in that branch.
+* Test your changes locally before raising a pull request.
+
+# Commit guidelines
+
+* Isolate each commit to a single component/folder as far as possible
+* Use a standard message template. I follow the template from [this
+  link](https://codeinthehole.com/tips/a-useful-template-for-commit-messages/)
+* Ensure that you have any necessary tests included to test your changes.
+
+## Additional commit requirements
+
+* Commits should have a `Signed-off-by` line. You can use `git commit -s` to
+  automatically append this to your message.
+* Any generated objects should be included in `.gitignore`.
+* A commit should be self-contained, i.e., if I check out any commit in a clean
+  workspace, I should be able to run `./.travis_build.sh` and not encounter any
+  failures.
+* Any additional dependencies should be called out in `INSTALL.md`
+
+# Contribution License
+
+The project is licensed under GPLv2, with a linking exception. Your
+contributions will also be licensed the same way. However, you maintain the
+copyright to your contributions.
+
+If this is your first contribution to this project, you may update the `AUTHORS`
+file with your full name. Please keep the change to this file in a separate
+commit.
+

Makefile.am

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
 	ABOUT-NLS \
 	AUTHORS \
 	ChangeLog.md \
+	CONTRIBUTING.md \
 	Doxyfile.in \
 	INSTALL.md \
 	LICENSE \