Update CONTRIBUTING.md (#12714)

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* Tweak contributing.

* Add link to contributing guide.

* Added example "good" PR description.

Author: grokys

Diff for: .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+<!--- See CONTRIBUTING.md for general guidelines on contributions -->
+
 ## What does the pull request do?
 <!--- Give a bit of background on the PR here, together with links to with related issues etc. -->
 

Diff for: CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,57 +1,79 @@
 # Contributing to Avalonia
 
-## Before You Start
+PRs are always welcomed from everyone. Following this guide will help us get your PR reviewed and merged as quickly as possible.
 
-Drop into our [telegram group](https://t.me/Avalonia) or [gitter chat room](https://gitter.im/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia) and let us know what you're thinking of doing. We might be able to give you guidance or let you know if someone else is already working on the feature.
+For this guide we're going to split PRs into two types: bug fixes and features; the requirements for each are slightly different.
 
-## Style
+## Bug Fixes
 
-The codebase uses [.net core](https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/master/docs/coding-guidelines/coding-style.md) coding style.
+A bug fix will ideally be accompanied by tests. There are a few types of tests:
 
-Try to keep lines of code around 100 characters in length or less, though this is not a hard limit.
-If you're a few characters over then don't worry too much.
+- Unit tests are for issues that aren't related to platform features. These tests are located in the `tests` directly, categorised by the assembly which they're testing.
+- Integration tests are for issues that are related to platform features (for example fixing a bug with Window resizing). These tests are located in the `tests/Avalonia.IntegrationTests.Appium` directory. Integration tests should be run on Windows and macOS. See the readme in that directory for more information
+- Render tests are for issues with rendering. These tests are located in `tests/Avalonia.RenderTests` with separate project files for Skia and Direct2D. The Direct2D backend is currently mostly unmaintained so render tests that just run on Skia are acceptable
 
-**DO NOT USE #REGIONS** full stop.
+It's not always feasible to accompany a bug fix with a test, but doing so will speed up the review process.
 
-## Pull requests
+The commits in a bug fix PR **should follow this pattern**:
 
-A single pull request should be submitted for each change. If you're making more than one change,
-please submit separate pull requests for each change for easy review. Rebase your changes to make
-sense, so a history that looks like:
+- A commit with a failing unit test; followed by
+- A commit that fixes the issues
 
-* Add class A
-* Feature A didn't set Foo when Bar was set
-* Fix spacing
-* Add class B
-* Sort using statements
+In this way the reviewer can check out the commit with the failing test and confirm the problem. One this is confirmed, they can confirm the fix.
 
-Should be rebased to read:
+## Features
 
-* Add class A
-* Add class B
+**Features should be discussed with the core team before opening a PR.** Please open an issue to discuss the feature before starting work, to ensure that the core team are onboard.
 
-Again, this makes review much easier.
+Features should always include unit tests or integration tests where possible.
 
-Please try not to submit pull requests that don't add new features (e.g. moving stuff around)
-unless you see something that is obviously wrong or that could be written in a more terse or
-idiomatic style. It takes time to review each pull request - time that I'd prefer to spend writing
-new features!
+> One exception to this is features related to DevTools which has no tests currently
 
-Prefer terseness to verbosity but don't try to be too clever.
+Features that introduce new controls should consider the following:
 
-## Tests
+- Ideally the control should be exposed to the operating system's automation/accessibility APIs by writing an `AutomationPeer`
+- If the control introduces any functionality which is difficult to unit test, an integration test should be written
 
-There are two types of tests currently in the codebase; unit tests and render tests.
+## General Guidance
 
-Unit tests should be contained in a class name that mirrors the class being tested with the suffix
--Tests, e.g.
+## PR description
 
-    Avalonia.Controls.UnitTests.Presenters.TextPresenterTests
+- The PR template contains sections to fill in. These are discretionary and are intended to provide guidance rather than being prescritive: feel free to delete sections that do not apply, or add additional sections
+- **Please** provide a good description of the PR. Not doing so **will** delay review of the PR at a minimum, or may cause it to be closed. If English isn't your first language, consider using ChatGPT or another tool to write the description. If you're looking for a good example of a PR description see https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia/pull/12765 for example.
+- Link any fixed issues with a `Fixes #1234` comment
 
-Where Avalonia.Controls.UnitTests is the name of the project.
+## Breaking changes
 
-Unit test methods should be named in a sentence style, separated by underscores, that describes in
-English what the test is testing, e.g.
+- During a major release cycle, source or binary breaking changes may not be introduced to the codebase: this is checked by an automated tool and will cause CI to fail
+- If something needs addressing in the next major release, you can leave a `TODOXX:` comment, where `XX` is the version number of the next major release, e.g. `TODO12:`
+- Carefully consider behavioral breaking changes and point them out in the PR description
+
+### Commits
+
+In addition to the guidance in the `Bug Fixes` section, following these guidelines may help to get your PR reviewed in a timely manner:
+
+- Rebase your changes to remove extraneous commits. Ideally the commit history should tell a clean story of how the PR was implemented (even though the process was probably not clean!)
+- Provide meaningful commit comments
+- **Do not** change code unrelated to the bug fix/feature
+- **Do not** introduce spurious formatting or whitespace changes
+
+While it's tempting to fix style issues you encounter, don't do it:
+
+- It causes the reviewer to get distracted by unrelated changes
+- It makes finding the cause of any later issue more difficult (blame/bisect is made more difficult)
+- As the code churns, style issues will be resolved anyway
+
+Separate PRs for style issues may be accepted if agreed with the core team in advance.
+
+### Style
+
+- The codebase uses [.net core](https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/master/docs/coding-guidelines/coding-style.md) coding style.
+- Try to keep lines of code around 120 characters in length or less, though this is not a hard limit. If you're a few characters over then don't worry too much.
+- Public methods should have XML documentation
+- Prefer terseness to verbosity but don't try to be too clever.
+- **DO NOT USE #REGIONS** full stop
+
+Tests do not follow the usual method naming convention. Instead they should be named in a sentence style, separated by underscores, that describes in English what the test is testing, e.g.
 
 ```csharp
     void Calling_Foo_Should_Increment_Bar()
@@ -66,4 +88,4 @@ Render tests should describe what the produced image is:
 ## Code of Conduct
 
 This project has adopted the code of conduct defined by the Contributor Covenant to clarify expected behavior in our community.
-For more information see the [Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct](https://dotnetfoundation.org/code-of-conduct)
+For more information see the [Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct](https://dotnetfoundation.org/code-of-conduct)