Add guidance for all the things our software should ship with

[maya]

Karl Fogel's "Producing Open Source Software" recommends each open source software package include a:

• README file
• INSTALL file
• LICENSE file
• CHANGES file (CHANGELOG or NEWS)

See: http://producingoss.com/en/producingoss.html#packaging

In the top level of new directory tree, there should be a plain text README file explaining what the software does and what release this is, and giving pointers to other resources, such as the project's web site, other files of interest, etc. Among those other files should be an INSTALL file, sibling to the README file, giving instructions on how to build and install the software for all the operating systems it supports. As mentioned in the section called “How to Apply a License to Your Software” in Chapter 2, Getting Started, there should also be a COPYING or LICENSE file, giving the software's terms of distribution.[64]

There should also be a CHANGES file (sometimes called NEWS), explaining what's new in this release. The CHANGES file accumulates changelists for all releases, in reverse chronological order, so that the list for this release appears at the top of the file.

[afeld]

Re: including the CHANGELOG in the repository vs. using something like the GitHub Releases feature: there's an argument for "include all of the things related to that software with the software", but I think it was a bigger deal when internet access (to repository pages) wasn't as ubiquitous. Either is a totally legitimate choice, so I'd just pick one and not dwell too much on it 😉 Also easy to change your mind later.