Doc: Add CG `Introduction to contributing'.

diff --git a/Documentation/contributor.texi b/Documentation/contributor.texi
index 4af6e6ff72a4fc64c651823c616f7726df8c6891..e5077d3f957434a9e8212dbacfefac89406f2501 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/contributor.texi
+++ b/Documentation/contributor.texi
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Copyright @copyright{} 2007--2009 by the authors.
 @ifnottex
 
 @menu
+* Introduction to contributing::
 * Starting with git::
 * Compiling LilyPond::
 * Documentation work::
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ Appendices
 @contents
 
 
+@include contributor/introduction.itexi
 @include contributor/git-starting.itexi
 @include contributor/compiling.itexi
 @include contributor/doc-work.itexi

diff --git a/Documentation/contributor/introduction.itexi b/Documentation/contributor/introduction.itexi
new file mode 100644 (file)
index 0000000..f91af57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/contributor/introduction.itexi
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+@c -*- coding: us-ascii; mode: texinfo; -*-
+
+@node Introduction to contributing
+@chapter Introduction to contributing
+
+
+@menu
+* Overview of tasks::
+* For unix developers::
+* For other contributors::
+@end menu
+
+
+@node Overview of tasks
+@section Overview of tasks
+
+
+FIXME: The intro should contain the "help us" material from web/,
+quite possibly as the very first thing.  This requires having a
+macro for it, which depends on issue 939.
+
+
+@node For unix developers
+@section For unix developers
+
+
+To download the LilyPond Git repository:
+
+@example
+git clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/lilypond.git
+@end example
+
+Documentation is built using Texinfo.  Subscribe to the
+developers' mailing list at
+@uref{http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-devel} and
+send well-formed Git patches to @uref{lilypond-devel@gnu.org} for
+discussion.
+
+
+@node For other contributors
+@section For other contributors
+
+
+The LilyPond source code is maintained as a Git repository, which
+contains:
+
+@itemize
+@item
+all of the source files needed to build LilyPond, and
+
+@item
+a record of the entire history of every change made to every file
+since the program was born.
+@end itemize
+
+The @q{official} LilyPond Git repository is hosted by the GNU
+Savannah software forge at @uref{http://git.sv.gnu.org}.
+Although, since Git uses a @q{distributed} model, technically
+there is no central repository.  Instead, each contributor keeps a
+complete copy of the entire repository (about 116M).
+
+Changes made within one contributor's copy of the repository can
+be shared with other contributors using @emph{patches}.  A patch
+is a simple text file generated by the @code{git} program that
+indicates what changes have been made (using a special format).
+If a contributor's patch is approved for inclusion (usually
+through the mailing list), someone on the current development team
+will @emph{apply} (or @q{push}) the patch to the official
+repository.
+
+Compiling (@q{building}) LilyPond allows developers to see how
+changes to the source code affect the program itself.  Compiling
+is also needed to package the program for specific operating
+systems or distributions.  LilyPond can be compiled from a local
+Git repository (for developers), or from a downloaded tarball (for
+packagers).  Compiling LilyPond is a rather involved process, and
+most contributor tasks do not require it.
+