diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89ca4fdcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<!--
+Please only file issues if you have confirmed the issue is valid for
+the latest virt-manager code. Running code from git is pretty easy,
+see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
+
+If you are using distro provided packages and you have not confirmed
+the bug exists in this repo, then please file a bug with your distro
+instead.
+
+If you are requesting a feature or UI change, please read DESIGN.md
+first, especially the section at the end about previously rejected
+features.
+
+Thank you!
+-->
+
+**Distro**: <!-- FILL ME IN PLEASE -->
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 2d7a5d106..3fab344e6 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,18 +1,32 @@
 # Contribute to virt-manager
 
+## Run code from git
+
+Generally virt-* tools can be run straight from git. For example
+for virt-manager:
+
+```
+git clone https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager
+cd virt-manager
+./virt-manager --debug
+```
+
+The other tools like `virt-install` should work similarly. This
+expects you already have a distro provided version of virt-manager
+installed which pulled in all the necessary dependencies. If not,
+see [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md) for more hints about finding the
+correct dependencies.
+
 ## Bug reporting
 
-We use our [github issue tracker](https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager/issues)
-for bug reporting. Previously we used bugzilla.redhat.com but nowadays
-github is preferred.
+Bug reports should go to our [github issue tracker](https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager/issues).
 
-Please only file issues if they apply to the latest version of
-virt-manager. If you are using an older version from a distro,
-please file a bug in your distro's bug tracker..
+The bug tracker is for issues affecting the latest code only.
+If you are using a distro provided package like from Ubuntu or
+Fedora, please file a bug in their bug tracker.
 
-When filing a bug, please reproduce the issue with the `--debug`
-flag passed to the tool and attach the full output in the bug
-report.
+If you suspect the bug also affects upstream code, please confirm
+it by running the latest code using the steps above.
 
 
 ## Writing patches
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index d0a09bc56..aefaa209d 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ changes, it can be done from the source directory:
 ./virt-manager
 ```
 
+For more details on that, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)
+
+
 To install the software into `/usr/local` (usually), you can do:
 ```sh
 ./setup.py install