[docs] add a contributing page to the developer documentation

docs/make.jl

@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ const _PAGES = [
             "API Reference" => "submodules/Test/reference.md",
         ],
     ],
-    "Developer Docs" => ["developer/checklists.md"],
+    "Developer Docs" =>
+        ["developer/checklists.md", "developer/contributing.md"],
     "Release notes" => "release_notes.md",
 ]
 

docs/src/developer/contributing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+# [Contributing](@id contributing_to_mathoptinterface)
+
+This document explains to contribute code to MathOptInterface.
+
+## Obtain the source code
+
+The easiest way to obtain the source code for MathOptInterface is to run:
+```julia
+julia> import Pkg
+
+julia> Pkg.dev("MathOptInterface")
+```
+This will download the JuMP Git repository to `~/.julia/dev/MathOptInterface`.
+If you're on Windows, this will be `C:\\Users\\<my_name>\\.julia\\dev\\MathOptInterface`.
+
+Alternatively, you can use `git` to clone the source to a directory of your
+choosing:
+```
+$ cd /some/local/path
+$ git clone https://github.com/jump-dev/MathOptInterface.jl.git
+```
+
+## Make changes
+
+Code development in MathOptInterface follows typical git development practices.
+
+First, go to [https://github.com/jump-dev/MathOptInterface.jl](https://github.com/jump-dev/MathOptInterface.jl)
+and click the "Fork" button in the top-right corner. This will create a copy of
+MathOptInterface under your GitHub account.
+
+Then, tell your local git about your new fork:
+```
+export GITHUB_ACCOUNT="odow"  # Replace with your name
+cd ~/.julia/dev/MathOptInterface
+git remote add ${GITHUB_ACCOUNT} https://github.com/${GITHUB_ACCOUNT}/MathOptInterface.jl.git
+```
+
+Before making changes to the source, ensure that you have the latest copy, and
+checkout a new branch:
+```
+git checkout master
+git pull
+git checkout -b my_new_branch
+```
+
+Now you can make changes by editing the local source code. See [Running the tests](@ref)
+for how to check if your code passes the tests.
+
+Once you have finished making changes, make a commit and push your branch to
+GitHub:
+```
+git add .
+git commit -m "A message describing what you changed"
+git push -u $GITHUB_ACCOUNT my_new_branch
+```
+Finally, go to [https://github.com/jump-dev/MathOptInterface.jl](https://github.com/jump-dev/MathOptInterface.jl)
+and follow the instructions that pop up to open a pull request.
+
+## Running the tests
+
+There are lot of tests in MathOptInterface. Running them in their entirety can
+take a long time.
+
+The easiest way to run the tests is to run:
+```julia
+julia> import Pkg
+
+julia> Pkg.test("MathOptInterface")
+```
+The downside to the approach is that it will run all of the tests, and it will
+recompile MathOptInterface from scratch, even if you have made very trivial
+changes to the source code.
+
+A faster approach is to use [Revise.jl](https://github.com/timholy/Revise.jl).
+
+First, install Revise in your global package environment:
+```
+$ julia
+
+julia> import Pkg
+
+julia> Pkg.add("Revise")
+```
+
+Then, `cd` to the source code of MathOptInterface, and start Julia with the
+project set to `.` (for `~/.julia/dev/MathOptInterface/Project.toml`):
+```
+$ cd ~/.julia/dev/MathOptInterface
+$ julia --project=.
+```
+
+To run the tests, load Revise, and then include the relevant test file. For
+example:
+```julia
+julia> using Revise
+
+julia> include("test/Nonlinear/runtests.jl")
+
+julia> # make changes to `src/Nonlinear`
+
+julia> include("test/Nonlinear/runtests.jl")
+```
+You can also run other tests such as `test/Bridges/Constraint/runtests.jl`, or
+any individual file, such as `test/Utilities/distance_to_set.jl`.
+
+There is one complication: `JSONSchema` is a test-time dependency that is not
+present in the default project. If you want to run `test/FileFormats/MOF/MOF.jl`,
+you will first need to install the package (`Pkg.test("MathOptInterface")` does
+this automatically):
+```julia
+julia> import Pkg; Pkg.add("JSONSchema")
+```
+If you have installed JSONSchema, you can also run all the tests with
+`include("test/runtests.jl")`.
+
+Finally, running the tests locally is best practice, but it is not required.
+When you open a pull request, our automated CI will run all of the tests and
+highlight any failing tests that need to be fixed.
+
+A comment from `@odow`: when I'm working on a feature, I make local changes, run
+run the most relevant test file with `include`, and then open a PR. If the
+change caused a test to fail in some other part of the codebase, I then
+`include` the file with the failing test locally to debug my follow-up changes.
+
+## Building the documentation
+
+Building the documentation follows a similar practice with Revise. First, `cd`
+to the source code of MathOptInterface, but this time, start Julia with
+`--project=docs`.
+```
+$ cd ~/.julia/dev/MathOptInterface
+
+$ julia --project=docs
+```
+
+Then, ensure that MathOptInterface (in our current directory) has been added as
+a development dependency:
+```julia
+julia> import Pkg; Pkg.dev(".")
+[...lines omitted...]
+```
+Finally, load `Revise` and then build the docs:
+```julia
+julia> using Revise
+
+julia> include("docs/make.jl")
+```
+If you make changes to the docs or to the Julia source code (for example, the
+docstrings), you can re-run `include` to quickly rebuild the docs.