1 files changed, 27 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96cf672
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Contributing to Effcee
+
+Want to contribute?  Great!  First, read this page (including the small print at
+the end).  Then, have a look at [`DEVELOPMENT.howto.md`](DEVELOPMENT.howto.md),
+which contains useful info to guide you along the way.
+
+## Before you contribute
+
+Before we can use your code, you must sign the
+[Google Individual Contributor License Agreement](https://developers.google.com/open-source/cla/individual?csw=1)
+(CLA), which you can do online. The CLA is necessary mainly because you own the
+copyright to your changes, even after your contribution becomes part of our
+codebase, so we need your permission to use and distribute your code. We also
+need to be sure of various other things -- for instance that you'll tell us if
+you know that your code infringes on other people's patents. You don't have to
+sign the CLA until after you've submitted your code for review and a member has
+approved it, but you must do it before we can put your code into our codebase.
+
+Before you start working on a larger contribution, you should get in touch with
+us first through the issue tracker with your idea so that we can help out and
+possibly guide you. Coordinating up front makes it much easier to avoid
+frustration later on.
+
+## The small print
+
+Contributions made by corporations are covered by a different agreement than
+the one above, the Software Grant and Corporate Contributor License Agreement.