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-# How to contribute
+# How to submit a bug report
+
+If you received an error message, please include it and any exceptions.
 
-We definitely welcome patches and contributions to grpc! Here are some guideline
-and information about how to do so.
+We commonly need to know what platform you are on:
+ * JDK/JRE version (i.e., ```java -version```)
+ * Operating system (i.e., ```uname -a```)
+
+# How to contribute
 
-## Getting started
+We definitely welcome patches and contributions to grpc! Here are some
+guideline and information about how to do so.
 
-### Legal requirements
+## Before getting started
 
 In order to protect both you and ourselves, you will need to sign the
 [Contributor License Agreement](https://cla.developers.google.com/clas).
+
+We follow the [Google Java Style
+Guide](https://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/javaguide.html). Our
+build automatically will provide warnings for style issues.
+[Eclipse](https://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/eclipse-java-google-style.xml)
+and
+[IntelliJ](https://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/intellij-java-google-style.xml)
+style configurations are commonly useful.
+
+If planning on making a large change, feel free to [create an issue on
+GitHub](https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/issues/new), visit the [#grpc IRC
+channel on Freenode](http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=grpc), or send an
+email to [grpc-io@googlegroups.com](grpc-io@googlegroups.com) to discuss
+beforehand.
+
+## Proposing changes
+
+Make sure that ```./gradle build``` (```.\gradle.bat build``` on Windows)
+completes successfully without any new warnings. Then create a Pull Request
+with your changes. When the changes are accepted, they will be merged or
+cherry-picked by a gRPC core developer.