Instructions to install Rust, get mango, and test #53

README.rst

@@ -16,11 +16,56 @@ There are dozens of pages of design notes, but the plan still lacks coherence, s
 How to use
 -------------------------------
 
-The compiler is written in Rust for WebAssembly. You can run it using:
+The compiler is not complete yet and cannot be used for real code.
 
-    rustup toolchain install nightly
-    cargo install cargo-wasm
-    cargo wasm build
+But if you want to play with it, or even help to complete it, here is how!
 
-This compiles to native code, with WebAssembly to be added later (#34).
+These instructions were tested on Ubuntu 18.4 (using Bash). It should also work on other platforms, if you 'translate' the commands.
 
+* Get the code with (something like). 
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	git clone https://github.com/mangolang/compiler.git mango
+	cd mango  # choose the directory that you downloaded the code to
+	# After this, I'll assume $PWD is the location of `mango`.
+
+* The compiler is written in Rust. If you don't have `rustup` yet, install it with instructions `on this page`_. Then
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	rustup toolchain install nightly
+	rustup override set nightly  # make sure you are in the mango directory
+	
+* We need a few packages:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	rustup component add rustfmt-preview
+	
+
+* There are git commit hooks that you can use. They test that code is formatted well and compiles and commit messages are correctly formatted. You don't have to use them if you ensure these things yourself. If you want to use them:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	git config core.hooksPath $PWD/dev/hooks/
+	# on git versions older than 2.9, use (from mango directory):
+	rm -rf .git/hooks
+	ln -s $PWD/dev/hooks/ .git/hooks
+	chmod u+x .git/hooks
+
+* To format and test the code, run
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+	cargo +nightly fmt
+	cargo test --all
+
+* You're now ready to make changes! If you want to help, you're very welcome! Have a glance at CONTRIBUTING.rst_ if you have a minute.
+
+* For IDEs, Rust support isn't on the level of e.g. Java yet, but JetBrain's CLion_ with `Rust plugin`_ is not bad if you have a license.
+
+.. _CLion: https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/
+.. _`Rust plugin`: https://intellij-rust.github.io/
+.. _`on this page`: https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/install.html
+.. _CONTRIBUTING.rst: