Basic contributing documentation

.gitignore

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 build*/
 __pycache__
-
+docs/_build/
 
 .vscode/
 .idea/

docs/content/contributing-c.md

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+# Contributing C
+
+Run `./format_code.sh` before committing to format the code.
+
+## Code Quality
+
+Code in the directory `lcmgen` leaks memory. It is not an uncommon practice to allow this for short lived CLI tools. 

docs/content/contributing-java.md

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+# Contributing Java
+
+`lcm.jar` along with `lcm-spy` and `lcm-logplayer-gui` are built with Cmake. There is not a Ant/Maven/Gradle project.
+ To edit the code, use your IDE of choice to create a project in the `lcm-java` folder. `lcm-java/lcm` should be the top level package (`lcm.lcm.LCM` is the fully qualified name for the `LCM` class). 
+
+ To get the best results from Visual Studio Code, it may be necessary to first create an Eclipse project by using Eclipse.

docs/content/contributing.md

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+# Contributing 
+
+LCM uses the GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. The full text may be found in the [COPYING](https://github.com/lcm-proj/lcm/blob/master/COPYING) file.

docs/index.rst

@@ -151,6 +151,14 @@ sending a message to the `mailing list <http://groups.google.com/group/lcm-users
    content/lua-api.md
    python/index.rst
 
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+   :caption: Contributing
+   :glob:
+
+   content/contributing.md
+   content/contributing-c.md
+   content/contributing-java.md
 
 Indices and tables
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