add-contributing-doc

[dheeraj12347]

Adds a CONTRIBUTING.md that consolidates development environment and workflow instructions in one place.

• Documents Docker-based and local development setup.
• Describes build and test commands.
• Explains how to enable and use the existing pre-commit hooks.

References #329.

[wgtmac]

I'm not sure if it is a good idea to introduce one more contributing code. We have this on our site: https://cpp.iceberg.apache.org/ and also duplicate content in the project README already.

[HuaHuaY]

Developers must use C++23-compatible compiler.

[dheeraj12347]

Developers must use C++23-compatible compiler.

Updated the prerequisite to C++23-compatible compiler in CONTRIBUTING.md and pushed the change. Thanks for pointing this out!

[dheeraj12347]

I'm not sure if it is a good idea to introduce one more contributing code. We have this on our site: https://cpp.iceberg.apache.org/ and also duplicate content in the project README already.

That makes sense.
I can instead keep CONTRIBUTING.md very short and mainly:
Link to https://cpp.iceberg.apache.org/ for the full contributing guide, and
Briefly point to the existing sections in the README.
Please let me know if you prefer that approach, or if you’d rather close this PR and track improvements directly on the website/docs.

[HuaHuaY]

There is a similar markdown file mkdocs/docs/index.md in the repo, which is the source file of https://cpp.iceberg.apache.org/. I think we can name that file CONTRIBUTING.md and let the website use it.
@wgtmac What do you think of this idea?

[wgtmac]

There is a similar markdown file mkdocs/docs/index.md in the repo, which is the source file of https://cpp.iceberg.apache.org/. I think we can name that file CONTRIBUTING.md and let the website use it. @wgtmac What do you think of this idea?

Yes, I think this is a better approach. README already has https://github.com/apache/iceberg-cpp?tab=readme-ov-file#contribute so it does not make sense to add yet another CONTRIBUTING.md to duplicate the content.

[dheeraj12347]

I can update this PR to reuse the existing MkDocs doc as CONTRIBUTING.
Concretely, I’ll:

Move the contributing content into mkdocs/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md,

Update mkdocs.yml so this file is still used as the site homepage, and

(Optionally) add a thin CONTRIBUTING.md in the repo root that points to the docs if you prefer.
Does this structure work for you?

[wgtmac]

Yes, except add a thin CONTRIBUTING.md.

[dheeraj12347]

I’ve updated this PR to reuse the existing MkDocs doc as CONTRIBUTING:

Moved the contributing guide from mkdocs/docs/index.md into mkdocs/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md.

Kept mkdocs/docs/index.md as a small landing page that links to the contributing guide.

Kept a thin root CONTRIBUTING.md that points to the website/docs instead of duplicating content.

Please let me know if this matches the structure you had in mind.

[HuaHuaY]

I suggest to use a softlink instead of thin markdown file.