Merge pull request #29865 from hashicorp/laura-update-docs-readme

Update READMEs to help folks figure out how to successfully make docs

README.md

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-Terraform
-=========
+# Terraform
 
 - Website: https://www.terraform.io
 - Forums: [HashiCorp Discuss](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/c/terraform-core)
@@ -15,32 +14,35 @@ The key features of Terraform are:
 
 - **Infrastructure as Code**: Infrastructure is described using a high-level configuration syntax. This allows a blueprint of your datacenter to be versioned and treated as you would any other code. Additionally, infrastructure can be shared and re-used.
 
-- **Execution Plans**: Terraform has a "planning" step where it generates an *execution plan*. The execution plan shows what Terraform will do when you call apply. This lets you avoid any surprises when Terraform manipulates infrastructure.
+- **Execution Plans**: Terraform has a "planning" step where it generates an execution plan. The execution plan shows what Terraform will do when you call apply. This lets you avoid any surprises when Terraform manipulates infrastructure.
 
 - **Resource Graph**: Terraform builds a graph of all your resources, and parallelizes the creation and modification of any non-dependent resources. Because of this, Terraform builds infrastructure as efficiently as possible, and operators get insight into dependencies in their infrastructure.
 
 - **Change Automation**: Complex changesets can be applied to your infrastructure with minimal human interaction. With the previously mentioned execution plan and resource graph, you know exactly what Terraform will change and in what order, avoiding many possible human errors.
 
-For more information, see the [introduction section](https://www.terraform.io/intro) of the Terraform website.
+For more information, refer to the [What is Terraform?](https://www.terraform.io/intro) page on the Terraform website.
+
+## Getting Started & Documentation
 
-Getting Started & Documentation
--------------------------------
 Documentation is available on the [Terraform website](https://www.terraform.io):
-  - [Intro](https://www.terraform.io/intro/index.html)
-  - [Docs](https://www.terraform.io/docs/index.html)
+
+- [Introduction](https://www.terraform.io/intro)
+- [Documentation](https://www.terraform.io/docs)
 
 If you're new to Terraform and want to get started creating infrastructure, please check out our [Getting Started guides](https://learn.hashicorp.com/terraform#getting-started) on HashiCorp's learning platform. There are also [additional guides](https://learn.hashicorp.com/terraform#operations-and-development) to continue your learning.
 
 Show off your Terraform knowledge by passing a certification exam. Visit the [certification page](https://www.hashicorp.com/certification/) for information about exams and find [study materials](https://learn.hashicorp.com/terraform/certification/terraform-associate) on HashiCorp's learning platform.
 
-Developing Terraform
---------------------
+## Developing Terraform
 
 This repository contains only Terraform core, which includes the command line interface and the main graph engine. Providers are implemented as plugins, and Terraform can automatically download providers that are published on [the Terraform Registry](https://registry.terraform.io). HashiCorp develops some providers, and others are developed by other organizations. For more information, see [Extending Terraform](https://www.terraform.io/docs/extend/index.html).
 
-To learn more about compiling Terraform and contributing suggested changes, please refer to [the contributing guide](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).
+- To learn more about compiling Terraform and contributing suggested changes, refer to [the contributing guide](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).
 
-To learn more about how we handle bug reports, please read the [bug triage guide](./BUGPROCESS.md).
+- To learn more about how we handle bug reports, refer to the [bug triage guide](./BUGPROCESS.md).
+
+- To learn how to contribute to the Terraform documentation in this repository, refer to the [Terraform Documentation README](/website/README.md).
 
 ## License
+
 [Mozilla Public License v2.0](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/main/LICENSE)

website/README.md

@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 # Terraform Documentation
 
-This directory contains the portions of [the Terraform website](https://www.terraform.io/) that pertain to the
-core functionality, excluding providers and the overall configuration.
+This directory contains the portions of [the Terraform website](https://www.terraform.io/) that pertain to the core functionality, excluding providers and the overall configuration.
 
 The files in this directory are intended to be used in conjunction with
 [the `terraform-website` repository](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-website), which brings all of the
 different documentation sources together and contains the scripts for testing and building the site as
 a whole.
 
+## Suggesting Changes
+
+You can [submit an issue](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/issues/new/choose) with documentation requests or submit a pull request with suggested changes.
+
+Click **Edit this page** at the bottom of any Terraform website page to go directly to the associated markdown file in GitHub.
+
 ## Modifying Sidebar Navigation
 
 Updates to the sidebar navigation of Terraform docs need to be made in the [`terraform-website`](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-website/) repository (preferrably in a PR also updating the submodule commit). You can read more about how to make modifications to the navigation in the [README for `terraform-website`](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-website#editing-navigation-sidebars).
@@ -19,7 +24,14 @@ You should preview all of your changes locally before creating a pull request. T
 **Set Up Local Environment**
 
 1. [Install Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/).
-1. Restart your terminal or command line session.
+2. Create a `~/go` directory manually or by [installing Go](https://golang.org/doc/install).
+3. Open terminal and set `GOPATH` as an environment variable:
+
+   Bash: `export $GOPATH=~/go`(bash)
+
+   Zsh: `echo -n 'export GOPATH=~/go' >> ~/.zshrc`
+
+4. Restart your terminal or command line session.
 
 **Launch Site Locally**
 
@@ -40,4 +52,7 @@ Once your PR to `stable-website` is merged, open a PR bumping the submodule comm
 
 ### Deployment
 
-New commits in `hashicorp/terraform` and `hashicorp/terraform-cdk` don't automatically deploy the site. To use the latest upstream content, you'll need to open a PR bumping the submodule commit. If your changes aren't being deployed, it's very likely that you need to open a PR to update the submodule commit.
+New commits in `hashicorp/terraform` do not automatically deploy the site. Do the following for documentation pull requests:
+- **Add a backport label to the PR.** Use the label that corresponds to the latest Terraform patch release (e.g., `1.2-backport`). When you merge your PR to `main`, GitHub bot automatically generates a backport PR to merge your commits into the appropriate release branch.
+- **Merge the backport PR.** When all tests pass successfully, merge the backport PR into the release branch. The new content will be added to the site during the next minor release.
+- **Cherry-pick changes to `stable-website`.** If you want your changes to show up immediately, check out the latest version of the`stable-website` branch, cherry-pick your changes to the branch, and run `git push`. Your changes will be live on the site within the hour.