diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 36036e42..a6cc43e4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,7 +13,20 @@
 *.ilk
 *.lastbuildstate
 vc100.pdb
+ipch
+*.sdf
+*.opensdf
 *.idb
+*.vcxproj
+*.sln
+
+# OSX/Linux build products
+*.mak
+*.mak.vpc_crc
+*.xcodeproj/
+obj*/
+!devtools/*.mak
+!utils/smdlexp/smdlexp.mak
 
 # Specific Source build products
 client.pdb
@@ -23,6 +36,19 @@ server.pdb
 server.dll
 server.lib
 
+client.so
+client.so.dbg
+server.so
+server.so.dbg
+server_srv.so
+server_srv.so.dbg
+
+client.dylib
+client.dylib.dSYM/
+server.dylib
+server.dylib.dSYM/
+
 # files generated by running a mod
 config.cfg
 
+
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING b/CONTRIBUTING
index 733443d4..d281914c 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING
@@ -20,3 +20,13 @@ explicitly identifying it as sourced from a third party, stating the details
 of its origin, and informing Valve of any license or other restriction of
 which you are personally aware. 
 
+
+Technical Guidelines for Contributions:
+
+* Please keep your pull requests as granular as possible. Including two or three unrelated things in a single pull request just makes it less likely that the uber-request will be accepted. Two small pull requests are usually bettern than one large pull request.
+* If you are including a pull request with warning fixes, please include the following information about the warning:
+  . The OS and version you are building on
+  . The Compiler and version you are using
+  . The text of the warning (or group of warnings) itself
+
+