Add basic READMEs

docs/CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# Contributing to Spring Zero
+Spring Zero is released under the non-restrictive Apache 2.0 license. If you would like
+to contribute something, or simply want to hack on the code this document should help
+you get started.
+
+
+## Working with the code
+If you don't have an IDE preference we would recommend that you use 
+[Spring Tools Suite](http://www.springsource.com/developer/sts) or 
+[Eclipse](http://eclipse.org) when working with the code. We use the 
+[m2eclipe](http://eclipse.org/m2e/) eclipse plugin for maven support. Other IDEs
+and tools should also work without issue.
+
+
+### Building from source
+To build the source you will need to install 
+[Apache Maven](http://maven.apache.org/run-maven/index.html) v3.0 or above. The project
+can be build using the standard maven command:
+
+	$ mvn clean install
+
+If you are rebuilding often, you might also want to skip the tests until you are ready
+to submit a pull request:
+
+	$ mvn clean install -DskipTests
+
+
+### Importing into eclipse with m2eclipse
+We recommend the [m2eclipe](http://eclipse.org/m2e/) eclipse plugin when working with
+eclipse. If you don't already have m2eclipse installed it is available from the "eclipse
+marketplace".
+
+Spring Zero includes project specific source formatting settings, in order to have these
+work with m2eclipse, we provide an additional eclipse plugin that you can install:
+
+* Select `Install new software` from the `help` menu
+* Click `Add...` to add a new repository
+* Click the `Archive...` button
+* Select `org.eclipse.m2e.maveneclipse.site-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-site.zip`
+  from the `eclipse` folder in this checkout
+* Install "Maven Integration for the maven-eclipse-plugin"
+
+_NOTE: This plugin is optional. Projects can be imported without the plugin, your code 
+changes just won't be automatically formatted._ 
+
+With the requisite eclipse plugins installed you can select 
+`import existing maven projects` from the `file` menu to import the code. You will
+need to import the root `spring-zero` pom and the `spring-zero-samples` pom separately. 
+
+
+### Importing into eclipse without m2eclipse
+If you prefer not to use m2eclipse you can generate eclipse project meta-data using the
+following command:
+
+	$ mvn eclipse:eclipse
+
+The generated eclipse projects can be imported by selecting `import existing projects`
+from the `file` menu.
+
+### Importing into other IDEs
+Maven is well supported by most Java IDEs. Refer to you vendor documentation.
+
+
+### Integration tests
+
+The sample application are used as integration tests during the build
+(when you `mvn install`). Due to the fact that they make use of the
+`spring-package-maven-plugin` they cannot be called directly, and so
+instead are launched via the `maven-invoker-plugin`. If you encounter
+build failures running the integration tests, check the `build.log`
+file in the appropriate sample directory.
+