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+Spring Cloud 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.
+
+=== Sign the Contributor License Agreement
+Before we accept a non-trivial patch or pull request we will need you to sign the
+https://support.springsource.com/spring_committer_signup[contributor's agreement].
+Signing the contributor's agreement does not grant anyone commit rights to the main
+repository, but it does mean that we can accept your contributions, and you will get an
+author credit if we do.  Active contributors might be asked to join the core team, and
+given the ability to merge pull requests.
+
+=== Code Conventions and Housekeeping
+None of these is essential for a pull request, but they will all help.  They can also be
+added after the original pull request but before a merge.
+
+* Use the Spring Framework code format conventions. If you use Eclipse and you follow
+  the ``Importing into eclipse'' instructions below you should get project specific
+  formatting automatically. You can also import formatter settings using the
+  `eclipse-code-formatter.xml` file from the `eclipse` folder. If using IntelliJ, you can
+  use the http://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6546[Eclipse Code Formatter Plugin]
+  to import the same file.
+* Make sure all new `.java` files to have a simple Javadoc class comment with at least an
+  `@author` tag identifying you, and preferably at least a paragraph on what the class is
+  for.
+* Add the ASF license header comment to all new `.java` files (copy from existing files
+  in the project)
+* Add yourself as an `@author` to the .java files that you modify substantially (more
+  than cosmetic changes).
+* Add some Javadocs and, if you change the namespace, some XSD doc elements.
+* A few unit tests would help a lot as well -- someone has to do it.
+* If no-one else is using your branch, please rebase it against the current master (or
+  other target branch in the main project).
+* When writing a commit message please follow http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html[these conventions],
+  if you are fixing an existing issue please add `Fixes gh-XXXX` at the end of the commit
+  message (where XXXX is the issue number).