contributing: expand issue/PR sections, re-format (#186)

* contributing.md: expand tracking issue/pr section

* add tracking issue section

* re-format sections

* typos

* fix links

* add `.github/pull_request_template.md`

* add `Pull request title and description` section

* wording

.github/pull_request_template.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+<!--
+PR titles should be:
+<AREA>: <SHORT_DESCRIPTION>
+
+For example:
+books: fix typo
+-->
+
+<!--
+If your pull request is long and/or has sections
+that need clarifying, consider leaving a review on
+your own PR with comments explaining the changes.
+-->
+
+### What
+<!--
+If applicable, close a related issue with: 
+
+Fixes #<BUG_ISSUE_NUMBER>
+
+...or...
+
+Closes #<FEATURE_ISSUE_NUMBER>
+-->
+
+<!-- Describe the pull request in detail. -->
+
+### Why
+<!-- If applicable, describe why this pull request exists. -->
+
+### Where
+<!-- If applicable, describe the places this pull request affects. -->
+
+### How
+<!-- If applicable, describe how this pull request works. -->

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -4,37 +4,87 @@ Thank you for wanting to help out!
 Cuprate is in the stage where things are likely to change quickly, so it's recommended
 you ask questions in our public [Matrix room](https://matrix.to/#/#cuprate:monero.social).
 
-- [1. Submitting a pull request](#1-submitting-a-pull-request)
+- [1. Submitting an issue](#1-submitting-an-issue)
-	- [1.1 Rust toolchain](#11-rust-toolchain)
+	- [1.1 Discussion](#11-discussion)
-	- [1.2 Draft PR](#12-draft-pr)
+	- [1.2 Proposal](#12-proposal)
-	- [1.3 Passing CI](#13-passing-ci)
+	- [1.3 Tracking issue](#13-tracking-issue)
-	- [1.4 Ready for review](#14-ready-for-review)
+- [2. Submitting a pull request](#2-submitting-a-pull-request)
-- [2. Crate names](#2-crate-names)
+	- [2.1 Rust toolchain](#21-rust-toolchain)
-- [3. Coding guidelines](#3-coding-guidelines)
+	- [2.2 Draft PR](#22-draft-pr)
-- [4. Keeping track of issues and PRs](#4-keeping-track-of-issues-and-prs)
+	- [2.3 Passing CI](#23-passing-ci)
+	- [2.4 Ready for review](#24-ready-for-review)
+- [3. Keeping track of issues and PRs](#3-keeping-track-of-issues-and-prs)
+	- [3.1 Labels](#31-labels)
+	- [3.2 Tracking issues](#32-tracking-issues)
+- [4. Coding guidelines](#4-coding-guidelines)
+	- [4.1 General guidelines](#41-general-guidelines)
+	- [4.2 Crate names](#42-crate-names)
+	- [4.3 Pull request title and description](#43-pull-request-title-and-description)
 - [5. Documentation](#5-documentation)
 - [6. Books](#6-books)
 	- [6.1 Architecture book](#61-architecture-book)
 	- [6.2 Protocol book](#62-protocol-book)
 	- [6.3 User book](#63-user-book)
 
-## 1. Submitting a pull request
+## 1. Submitting an issue
-Once you have found something you would like to work on by:
+Before starting work, consider opening an issue for discussion.
+
+If you have a plan already, you can jump straight into [submitting a pull request](#2-submitting-a-pull-request).
+
+Otherwise, see below for issue types and what they're used for.
+
+### 1.1 Discussion
+These are for general discussion on topics that have questions that aren't fully answered yet.
+
+If you would like to discuss a topic and get some feedback, consider [opening a discussion](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/new/choose).
+
+Examples:
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/40
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/53
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/163
+
+### 1.2 Proposal
+These are formal issues that specify changes that are _almost_ ready for implementation.
+
+These should answer some basic questions:
+- **What** is this proposal for?
+- **Why** is this proposal needed?
+- **Where** will this proposal make changes to?
+- **How** will this proposal be implemented?
+
+If you have a close to fully fleshed out idea, consider [opening a proposal](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/new/choose).
+
+Opening a PR and writing the proposal in the PR description is also viable.
+
+Examples:
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/pull/146
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/106
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/153
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/181
+
+### 1.3 Tracking issue
+These are meta-issues that track an in-progress implementation.
+
+See [`Tracking issues`](#32-tracking-issues) for more info.
+
+## 2. Submitting a pull request
+Once you have found something you would like to work on after:
+- Discussing an idea on an [issue](#1-submitting-an-issue)
 - Looking at the [open issues](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues)
 - Looking at issues with the [`A-help-wanted`](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3AE-help-wanted) label
-- or joining Cuprate's [Matrix room](https://matrix.to/#/#cuprate:monero.social) and asking
+- Joining Cuprate's [Matrix room](https://matrix.to/#/#cuprate:monero.social) and asking
 
 it is recommended to make your interest on working on that thing known so people don't duplicate work.
 
 Before starting, consider reading/using Cuprate's:
-- [`Documentation`](#5-documentation) (practical `cargo` docs)
+- [`Documentation`](#5-documentation)
-- [`Books`](#6-books) (Cuprate's architecture and protocol)
+- [`Books`](#6-books)
 
 These may answer some questions you have, or may confirm an issue you would like to fix.
 
 _Note: Cuprate is currently a work-in-progress; documentation will be changing/unfinished._
 
-### 1.1 Rust toolchain
+### 2.1 Rust toolchain
 Cuprate is written in [Rust](https://rust-lang.org).
 
 If you are editing code, you will need Rust's toolchain and package manager,
@@ -42,12 +92,12 @@ If you are editing code, you will need Rust's toolchain and package manager,
 
 Get started with Rust here: <https://www.rust-lang.org/learn/get-started>.
 
-### 1.2 Draft PR
+### 2.2 Draft PR
 Consider opening a draft PR until you have passed all CI.
 
 This is also the stage where you can ask for feedback from others. Keep in mind that feedback may take time especially if the change is large.
 
-### 1.3 Passing CI
+### 2.3 Passing CI
 Each commit pushed in a PR will trigger our [lovely, yet pedantic CI](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/blob/main/.github/workflows/ci.yml).
 
 It currently:
@@ -57,7 +107,7 @@ It currently:
 - Runs [`clippy`](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-clippy) (and fails on warnings)
 - Runs all tests
 - Builds all targets
-- Automatically add approriate [labels](#4-keeping-track-of-issues-and-prs) to your PR
+- Automatically adds approriate [labels](#31-labels) to your PR
 
 Before pushing your code, please run the following at the root of the repository:
 
@@ -79,45 +129,25 @@ After that, ensure all other CI passes by running:
 
 **Note: in order for some tests to work, you will need to place a [`monerod`](https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/) binary at the root of the repository.**
 
-### 1.4 Ready for review
+### 2.4 Ready for review
 Once your PR has passed all CI and is ready to go, open it for review. Others will leave their thoughts and may ask for changes to be made.
 
 Finally, if everything looks good, we will merge your code! Thank you for contributing!
 
-## 2. Crate names
+## 3. Keeping track of issues and PRs
-All of Cuprate's crates (libraries) are prefixed with `cuprate-`. All directories containing crates however, are not.
+The Cuprate GitHub repository has a lot of issues and PRs to keep track of.
 
-For example:
+This section documents tools used to help with this.
 
-| Crate Directory    | Crate Name         |
+### 3.1 Labels
-|--------------------|--------------------|
+Cuprate makes use of labels grouped by prefixes.
-| `storage/database` | `cuprate-database` |
-| `net/levin`        | `cuprate-levin`    |
-| `net/wire`         | `cuprate-wire`     |
-
-## 3. Coding guidelines
-This is a list of rules that are not mandated by any automation, but contributors generally follow.
-
-You should keep these in mind when submitting code:
-
-- Separate and sort imports as core, std, third-party, Cuprate crates, current crate
-- Follow the [Rust API Guidelines](https://rust-lang.github.io/api-guidelines)
-- `// Comment like this.` and not `//like this`
-- Use `TODO` instead of `FIXME`
-- Avoid `unsafe`
-
-And the most important rule:
-- Break any and all of the above rules when it makes sense
-
-## 4. Keeping track of issues and PRs
-The Cuprate GitHub repository has a lot of issues and PRs to keep track of. Cuprate makes use of generic labels and labels grouped by a prefixes to help with this.
 
 Some labels will be [automatically added/removed](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/tree/main/.github/labeler.yml) if certain file paths have been changed in a PR.
 
 The following section explains the meaning of various labels used.
 This section is primarily targeted at maintainers. Most contributors aren't able to set these labels.
 
-| Labels       | Description | Example |
+| Prefix       | Description | Example |
 |--------------|-------------|---------|
 | [A-]         | The **area** of the project an issue relates to. | `A-storage`, `A-rpc`, `A-docs`
 | [C-]         | The **category** of an issue. | `C-cleanup`,  `C-optimization`
@@ -135,6 +165,56 @@ This section is primarily targeted at maintainers. Most contributors aren't able
 [O-]: https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/labels?q=O
 [P-]: https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/labels?q=P
 
+### 3.2 Tracking issues
+If you are working on a larger effort, consider opening a [tracking issue](https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/new/choose)!
+
+The main purpose of these are to track efforts that may contain multiple PRs and/or are generally spread out. These don't usually contain the "why", but if they do, they are brief. These contain no implementation details or the how, as those are for the issues/PRs that are being tracked.
+
+Examples:
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/187
+- https://github.com/Cuprate/cuprate/issues/183
+
+## 4. Coding guidelines
+These are some rules that are not mandated by any automation, but contributors generally follow.
+
+### 4.1 General guidelines
+General guidelines you should keep these in mind when submitting code:
+
+- Separate and sort imports as `core`, `std`, `third-party`, Cuprate crates, current crate
+- Follow the [Rust API Guidelines](https://rust-lang.github.io/api-guidelines)
+- `// Comment like this.` and not `//like this`
+- Use `TODO` instead of `FIXME`
+- Avoid `unsafe`
+
+And the most important rule:
+- Break any and all of the above rules when it makes sense
+
+### 4.2 Crate names
+All of Cuprate's crates (libraries) are prefixed with `cuprate-`. All directories containing crates however, are not.
+
+For example:
+
+| Crate Directory    | Crate Name         |
+|--------------------|--------------------|
+| `storage/database` | `cuprate-database` |
+| `net/levin`        | `cuprate-levin`    |
+| `net/wire`         | `cuprate-wire`     |
+
+### 4.3 Pull request title and description
+In general, pull request titles should follow this syntax:
+```
+<AREA>: <SHORT_DESCRIPTION>
+```
+
+For example:
+```
+books: fix typo
+```
+
+The description of pull requests should generally follow the template laid out in [`.github/pull_request_template.md`](.github/pull_request_template.md).
+
+If your pull request is long and/or has sections that need clarifying, consider leaving a review on your own PR with comments explaining the changes.
+
 ## 5. Documentation
 Cuprate's crates (libraries) have inline documentation.