Add an initial CONTRIBUTE.rst

Add a contributors file to provide a high level overview
for people who wish to contribute to the project outlining
basic details and setting some project expectations.

This isn't intended to replace any of the existing documentation
but rather provide a succinct top level document that's easy
to find to enable users to understand the project and get
started as quickly as possible.

Signed-off-by: Peter Robinson <[email protected]>
[trini: Correct merge window length, release day and typo in the main
        index]
Signed-off-by: Tom Rini <[email protected]>

2 files changed, 86 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/CONTRIBUTE.rst b/doc/CONTRIBUTE.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8ccb3a193da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/CONTRIBUTE.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
+.. sectionauthor:: Peter Robinson <[email protected]>
+
+Overview
+--------
+
+This document is a high level contributors overview setting overall expectations,
+so people can get started quickly, the rest of the documentation goes into the
+details.
+
+Code of Conduct
+---------------
+
+The U-Boot project doesn't currently have an explicit code of conduct, but all
+contributors are expected to act cordially to, and be respectful of, each other's
+contributions and opinions. There are many code of conducts for open source
+projects available to review if you are unsure of expectations.
+
+Repository
+----------
+
+The official U-Boot repository is located at https://source.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot
+
+Further more detailed documentation can be found at the following link:
+https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/index.html
+
+Contributions
+-------------
+
+Contributions to the project are welcome. The U-Boot project uses a fairly
+traditional Linux style development work-flow using git and `a mailing list
+<https://lists.denx.de/listinfo/u-boot>`_.
+
+Patches should be sent to the mailing list using ``git send-email`` or the
+equivalent commands using ``b4`` or ``patman`` with appropriate sign-off and
+attributions for the code in question. Maintainers should be copied on mails
+and they can be found with the ``./scripts/get_maintainer.pl 0001-fix.patch``
+script. Please don't send patches as attachments, and ensure corporate mail
+systems don't reformat patches, append disclaimers or other unnecessary notes.
+The b4 tool automates a number of components mentioned above.
+
+Patch Series
+------------
+
+Patch series for a specific subject are welcome but they should be constrained
+to a single topic with a cover letter outlining the intention of the series.
+Each patch within the series should cover a single change, be self contained,
+not break the build or cause a regression.
+
+Generally bug fixes for existing bugs should be at the beginning of the
+series before any enhancements to allow those patches to be picked up early.
+
+Each iteration of a patch set should be versioned, allow enough time for people
+to review previous versions of the series and incorporate all the review
+feedback before sending a new version. A week between larger patch sets is
+considered as reasonable amount of time.
+
+Development Branches
+--------------------
+
+The U-Boot developers use two main branches for developing the code. The master
+branch is used for the current development cycle, while there is also a next
+branch intended to land changes for the next release early to enable wider
+testing of larger code changes. The next branch is merged to master shortly
+after the tagging of a new major release.
+
+Similar to Linux there is a three week merge window post release after which a
+release candidate is tagged. There's typically a new release candidate every
+two weeks post merge window until the stable generally available release.
+
+Release Schedule
+----------------
+
+There is currently four major releases a year in January (.01), April (.04),
+July (.07) and October (.10). These typically happen on the first Monday of
+that month. There is currently no release branches or long term releases.
diff --git a/doc/index.rst b/doc/index.rst
index 43398627d89..5d732ff7a54 100644
--- a/doc/index.rst
+++ b/doc/index.rst
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ if you want to help out.
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
 
+Contributing Guidelines
+-----------------------
+
+General guidelines for contributing to the U-Boot project.
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 2
+
+   CONTRIBUTE
+
 User-oriented documentation
 ---------------------------