Update CONTRIBUTING.md

[henryboisdequin]

Fixes #77215

As mentioned in #77215, the current CONTRIBUTING.md links to the rustc-dev-guide.
Even though the rustc-dev-guide has lots of useful information for contributors,
one is already confused by reading the first line of the current CONTRIBUTING.md.

To get started, read the [Getting Started] guide in the [rustc-dev-guide].

This line tells the contributor to go and read the rustc-dev-guide. What is
the rustc-dev-guide? What does rustc even mean? These are some of the
questions that went into my head when reading this line as a first-time
contributor. By explaining what the rustc-dev-guide is and some platforms
to get help, a new contributor understands what the first step is and the process
is much clearer. The About the [rustc-dev-guide] section explains what
the rustc-dev-guide is, what rustc is, and the purpose out of reading the
guide. The Getting help section points the user to some places where
they can get help, find a mentor, and introduce themselves.

[rust-highfive]

r? @Mark-Simulacrum

(rust-highfive has picked a reviewer for you, use r? to override)

[henryboisdequin]

@rustbot label +A-contributor-roadblock +C-enhancement +T-doc

[JohnTitor]

I'm not sure if it's the best way to get it back and cloning means we have to update both, it's not ideal.
cc @rust-lang/wg-rustc-dev-guide

[henryboisdequin]

I'm not sure if it's the best way to get it back and cloning means we have to update both, it's not ideal.
cc @rust-lang/wg-rustc-dev-guide

@JohnTitor I agree, would it be possible to create a tool to/make a bot automatically sync the file?

[JohnTitor]

I'd update the rustc-dev-guide itself along with CONTRIBUTING.md not to make confusion rather than copying contents, I don't think duplicating is the right way here.

What is the rustc-dev-guide? What does rustc even mean?

I don't think it's a common case that the contributors do not know rustc. But we could put some brief explanations for rustc and rustc-dev-guide if needed.

[henryboisdequin]

I'd update the rustc-dev-guide itself along with CONTRIBUTING.md not to make confusion rather than copying contents, I don't think duplicating is the right way here.

What is the rustc-dev-guide? What does rustc even mean?

I don't think it's a common case that the contributors do not know rustc. But we could put some brief explanations for rustc and rustc-dev-guide if needed.

Do you think a simplification/summary of https://rustc-dev-guide.rust-lang.org/contributing.html for the CONTRIBUTING.md would be a good option?

[joshtriplett]

Thank you for the contribution, and for explaining your experiences as a new contributor!

While I do think it'd be nice to inline the contents here, I also think it'd be unfortunate to have the two get out of sync. And I don't think the improvement of inlining it is worth the likelihood of it getting out of sync.

However, we could improve the language used to link to the guide, to spell out exactly why that guide is what people will want to read; for instance, "the development guide for the Rust compiler" rather than "rustc-dev-guide". Would that help? Would you consider a PR to that effect? (I'd be happy to review it.)

Alternatively, if github can handle a symlink into a submodule and still present the contributor guide that way, we could do that. Otherwise, I think we should keep the current document but improve the wording.

[henryboisdequin]

r? @joshtriplett

[camelid]

Instead of inlining part of the rustc-dev-guide, can we just rephrase this sentence to make it friendlier to new contributors? E.g., I'm thinking something like:

Suggested change

	To get started, read the [Contributing to Rust] chapter of the [rustc-dev-guide].
	Documentation for contributing to Rust is located in the [Guide to Rustc Development],
	commonly known as the rustc-dev-guide. Despite the name, this guide documents
	not just how to develop rustc (the Rust compiler), but also how to contribute to any part
	of the Rust project.
	To get started with contributing, please read the [Contributing to Rust] chapter of the guide.
	That chapter explains how to get your development environment set up and how to get help.

[camelid]

I was actually suggesting that you remove the other changes in the PR and only make the first sentence friendlier (of course, you don't have to use my exact phrasing for the revised sentence, I was just giving a general idea of what I meant).

The other information is covered in the dev-guide pretty early on already IIRC.

[joshtriplett]

This looks great. Thank you for working on it!

@bors r+ rollup

[bors]

📌 Commit bf40ac6 has been approved by joshtriplett