diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index af8498b00..0f6bbfa4b 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 osm2pgsql was written by Jon Burgess, Artem Pavlenko,  Martijn van Oosterhout
-Sarah Hoffman, Kai Krueger, Frederik Ramm, Brian Quinion and other
-OpenStreetMap project members.
\ No newline at end of file
+Sarah Hoffmann, Kai Krueger, Frederik Ramm, Brian Quinion, Matt Amos,
+Kevin Kreiser, Paul Norman and other OpenStreetMap project members.
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..27bb5ca51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+# Osm2pgsql contribution guidelines
+
+## Workflow
+
+We operate the "Fork & Pull" model explained at
+
+https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests
+
+You should fork the project into your own repo, create a topic branch
+there and then make one or more pull requests back to the openstreetmap repository.
+Your pull requests will then be reviewed and discussed.
+
+## History
+
+To understand the osm2pgsql code, it helps to know some history on it. Osm2pgsql
+was written in C in 2007 as a port of an older Python utility. In 2014 it was 
+ported to C++ by MapQuest and the last C version was released as 0.86.0. In it's
+time, it has had varying contribution activity, including times with no 
+maintainer or active developers.
+
+Parts of the codebase still clearly show their C origin and could use rewriting
+in modern C++, making use of data structures in the standard library.
+
+## Versioning
+
+Osm2pgsql uses a X.Y.Z version number, where Y tells you if you are on a stable
+or development series. Like the Linux Kernel, even numbers are stable and 
+development versions are odd.
+
+Old branches and versions are not generally maintained.
+
+## Code style
+
+The current codebase is a mix of styles, but new code should be written in the 
+[K&R 1TBS style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#Variant:_1TBS) with
+4 spaces indentation. Tabs should never be used in the C++ code.
+
+e.g.
+
+```
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+    ...
+    while (x == y) {
+        something();
+        somethingelse();
+
+        if (some_error) {
+            do_correct();
+        } else {
+            continue_as_usual();
+        }
+    }
+
+    finalthing();
+    ...
+}
+```
+
+Names should use underscores, not camel case, with class/struct names ending in `_t`.
+
+## Platforms targeted
+
+Ideally osm2pgsql should compile on Linux, OS X, FreeBSD and Windows. It is
+actively tested on Debian, Ubuntu and FreeBSD by the maintainers.
+
+## Testing
+
+The code also comes with a suite of tests which can be run by
+executing ``make check``.
+
+Most of these tests depend on being able to set up a database and run osm2pgsql
+against it. You need to ensure that PostgreSQL is running and that your user is
+a superuser of that system. To do that, run:
+
+```sh
+sudo -u postgres createuser -s $USER
+sudo mkdir -p /tmp/psql-tablespace
+sudo chown postgres.postgres /tmp/psql-tablespace
+psql -c "CREATE TABLESPACE tablespacetest LOCATION '/tmp/psql-tablespace'" postgres
+```
+
+Once this is all set up, all the tests should run (no SKIPs), and pass
+(no FAILs). If you encounter a failure, you can find more information
+by looking in the `test-suite.log`. If you find something which seems
+to be a bug, please check to see if it is a known issue at
+https://github.com/openstreetmap/osm2pgsql/issues and, if it's not
+already known, report it there.
+
+If running the tests in a virtual machine, allocate sufficient disk space for a
+20GB flat nodes file.
+
+### Performance Testing
+
+If performance testing with a full planet import is required, indicate what
+needs testing in a pull request.
+
+## Maintainers
+
+The current maintainers of osm2pgsql are [Sarah Hoffmann](https://github.com/lonvia/)
+and [Paul Norman](https://github.com/pnorman/). Sarah has more experience with 
+the gazetteer backend and Paul with the pgsql and multi backends.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f6bdd6893..b601b8ccc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -143,33 +143,12 @@ postgres tables instead of those provided in the pgsql backend.
 Any questions should be directed at the osm dev list
 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Mailing_lists
 
-## Testing ##
-
-The code also comes with a suite of tests which can be run by
-executing ``make check``.
-
-Some of these tests depend on being able to set up a database and run
-osm2pgsql against it. You need to ensure that PostgreSQL is running
-and that your user is a superuser of that system. To do that, run:
-
-```sh
-sudo -u postgres createuser -s $USER
-sudo mkdir -p /tmp/psql-tablespace
-sudo chown postgres.postgres /tmp/psql-tablespace
-psql -c "CREATE TABLESPACE tablespacetest LOCATION '/tmp/psql-tablespace'" postgres
-```
-
-Once this is all set up, all the tests should run (no SKIPs), and pass
-(no FAILs). If you encounter a failure, you can find more information
-by looking in the `test-suite.log`. If you find something which seems
-to be a bug, please check to see if it is a known issue at
-https://github.com/openstreetmap/osm2pgsql/issues and, if it's not
-already known, report it there.
-
 ## Contributing ##
 
 We welcome contributions to osm2pgsql. If you would like to report an issue,
 please use the [issue tracker on GitHub](https://github.com/openstreetmap/osm2pgsql/issues).
 
+More information can be found in [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
+
 General queries can be sent to the tile-serving@ or dev@
 [mailing lists](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mailing_lists).