Add a page for general contribution guidelines.

engine/guidelines/best_practices.rst

@@ -233,8 +233,4 @@ larger if there is no other choice.
 .. _doc_best_practices_for_engine_contributors_license_compliance:
 
 Libraries must use a permissive enough license to be included into Godot.
-Some examples of acceptable licenses are Apache 2.0, BSD, MIT, ISC, and MPL 2.0.
-In particular, we cannot accept libraries licensed under the GPL or LGPL since
-these licenses effectively disallow using it in proprietary software
-(which Godot is distributed as in most exported projects). This
-also applies for libraries that are only linked in the editor.
+For more information, see :ref:`doc_licenses`.

index.rst

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ for your topic of interest. You can also use the search function in the top-left
    organization/how_to_contribute
    organization/areas
    organization/pull_requests/index
+   organization/general_rules_and_guidelines
 
 .. toctree::
    :hidden:

organization/general_rules_and_guidelines.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+General rules and guidelines
+============================
+
+This page contains guidelines relevant for contributing to any area of Godot.
+
+When contributing to any particular area, please also refer to its respective guidelines.
+
+Respect our Code of Conduct
+-------------------------------
+
+When you contribute to Godot, we expect that you respect our `Code of Conduct <https://godotengine.org/code-of-conduct/>`__.
+
+.. _doc_licenses:
+
+Respect copyright
+-----------------
+
+You must be mindful of the copyright and patent rights of anything you submit.
+
+If you authored every part of your contribution and own the rights, this is not a problem.
+You can submit your contribution without reading further.
+
+However, any code or assets you took from somewhere else may be subject to copyright or patent rights,
+which you must respect. In such cases, you need to check the license of the material. Some licenses are permissive
+enough to be compatible with Godot's `MIT license <https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/master/LICENSE.txt>`.
+You must include this license in your contribution.
+Examples of compatible licenses include Apache 2.0, BSD, ISC, MPL 2.0, and MIT itself.
+
+However, others are not compatible with Godot's license. This includes "copy-left" licenses like GPL or LGPL,
+since these licenses effectively disallow static linking in proprietary software
+(which Godot is distributed as in most exported projects).
+This also applies for libraries that are only linked in the editor.
+
+"Source-available" is **not** "open-source". For example, you cannot submit exclusive code or ideas from proprietary
+game engines like Unreal or Unity, nor use their code as inspiration. We strongly recommend against reading any
+"source-available" code before contributing to Godot.
+
+Contribute only what you understand
+-----------------------------------
+
+Please only submit code that you understand and are prepared to explain to a maintainer.
+
+If you do not fully understand the code, please take extra care to test it rigorously, and disclose this in your
+pull request description.
+
+This especially applies if you implement the idea of another person, copy code from elsewhere, or if you use AI to
+assist you with your contribution. In all of these cases, you must disclose which part of your submission wasn't fully
+authored by you.
+
+AI-assisted contributions
+-------------------------
+
+The use of AI to contribute to Godot is discouraged.
+
+We acknowledge that AI can be useful, but we are convinced that human effort results in better and more relevant
+contributions.
+
+.. note:: "AI" in this page refers to any LLM/generative
+          AI model like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, etc., or any other
+          models that fulfill the same role. Using translation
+          software to communicate is fine, and single-line code
+          completion does not have to be disclosed.
+
+If you do use AI, we expect that you put in effort to proofread and improve anything it generates, and that you disclose
+what you used AI for. Maintainers are spending their personal time reviewing your code, please make sure
+that the code you submit is well-tested and functional.
+Please be respectful of their time and only submit something you have put thought and effort into.
+
+Contributions made entirely by AI are prohibited.