docs: restructure and improve documentation website (#606)

## Changes

### README.md
- Add License badge
- Split Requirements into Required and Optional, add Ninja
- Add Quick Start section (clone → build → test in one go)
- Add CMake Build Options table with all available options
- Add "Build with Meson" section with Meson-specific options
- Move "Customizing Dependency URLs" after Build sections
- Add `ctest -R` example for running specific tests
- Normalize `cd` paths (assume user is already in project root)

### Website restructure (`mkdocs/`)
- **Navigation**: Home → Getting Started → Contributing → Releases (3
sub-pages) → API Documentation
- **New `index.md`**: Project introduction, key features, quick links,
and community info (was previously the Contributing page)
- **New `getting-started.md`**: Build/install instructions extracted
from Contributing, with CMake/Meson options tables and dependency URL
customization
- **New `contributing.md`**: Coding standards (naming convention table),
development environment setup, submission workflow, and community links
- **New `release-process.md`**: Release manager guide extracted from
`dev/release/README.md`
- **New `verify-rc.md`**: RC verification guide with both automated
script and manual steps
- **Rewritten `releases.md`**: Summary table + per-version highlights;
0.2.0 content aligned with official blog post; corrected release dates
(0.1.0: Sep 10 2025, 0.2.0: Jan 26 2026); removed inaccurate pre-built
binaries and package manager claims

### Fixes
- Rename `docs/assert/` → `docs/assets/` (typo)
- Add `site_description` to `mkdocs.yml` for SEO
- Enable `navigation.sections` and `toc.integrate` for cleaner layout

Author: wgtmac

README.md

@@ -21,49 +21,51 @@
 
 [![Slack](https://img.shields.io/badge/chat-on%20Slack-brightgreen.svg)](https://apache-iceberg.slack.com/)
 [![Ask DeepWiki](https://deepwiki.com/badge.svg)](https://deepwiki.com/apache/iceberg-cpp)
+[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Apache%202.0-blue.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0)
 
 # Apache Iceberg™ C++
 
 C++ implementation of [Apache Iceberg™](https://iceberg.apache.org/).
 
 ## Requirements
 
-- CMake 3.25 or higher
+**Required:**
+
 - C++23 compliant compiler (GCC 14+, Clang 16+, MSVC 2022+)
+- CMake 3.25+ or Meson 1.5+
+- [Ninja](https://ninja-build.org/) (recommended build backend)
 
-## Customizing Dependency URLs
+**Optional:**
 
-If you experience network issues when downloading dependencies, you can customize the download URLs using environment variables.
+- Python 3 and [pre-commit](https://pre-commit.com/) (for linting)
 
-The following environment variables can be set to customize dependency URLs:
-
-- `ICEBERG_ARROW_URL`: Apache Arrow tarball URL
-- `ICEBERG_AVRO_URL`: Apache Avro tarball URL
-- `ICEBERG_AVRO_GIT_URL`: Apache Avro git repository URL
-- `ICEBERG_NANOARROW_URL`: Nanoarrow tarball URL
-- `ICEBERG_CROARING_URL`: CRoaring tarball URL
-- `ICEBERG_NLOHMANN_JSON_URL`: nlohmann-json tarball URL
-- `ICEBERG_CPR_URL`: cpr tarball URL
-
-Example usage:
+## Quick Start
 
 ```bash
-export ICEBERG_ARROW_URL="https://your-mirror.com/apache-arrow-22.0.0.tar.gz"
-cmake -S . -B build
+git clone https://github.com/apache/iceberg-cpp.git
+cd iceberg-cpp
+cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja
+cmake --build build
+ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
 ```
 
-## Build
+## Build with CMake
 
-### Build, Run Test and Install Core Libraries
+### Build, Run Tests and Install Core Libraries
 
 ```bash
-cd iceberg-cpp
 cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/install -DICEBERG_BUILD_STATIC=ON -DICEBERG_BUILD_SHARED=ON
 cmake --build build
 ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
 cmake --install build
 ```
 
+To run a specific test suite:
+
+```bash
+ctest --test-dir build -R schema_test --output-on-failure
+```
+
 ### Build and Install Iceberg Bundle Library
 
 #### Vendored Apache Arrow (default)
@@ -84,22 +86,76 @@ ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
 cmake --install build
 ```
 
+### CMake Build Options
+
+| Option | Default | Description |
+|--------|---------|-------------|
+| `ICEBERG_BUILD_STATIC` | `ON` | Build static library |
+| `ICEBERG_BUILD_SHARED` | `OFF` | Build shared library |
+| `ICEBERG_BUILD_TESTS` | `ON` | Build tests |
+| `ICEBERG_BUILD_BUNDLE` | `ON` | Build the battery-included library |
+| `ICEBERG_BUILD_REST` | `ON` | Build REST catalog client |
+| `ICEBERG_BUILD_REST_INTEGRATION_TESTS` | `OFF` | Build REST catalog integration tests |
+| `ICEBERG_ENABLE_ASAN` | `OFF` | Enable Address Sanitizer |
+| `ICEBERG_ENABLE_UBSAN` | `OFF` | Enable Undefined Behavior Sanitizer |
+
+## Build with Meson
+
+```bash
+meson setup builddir
+meson compile -C builddir
+meson test -C builddir --timeout-multiplier 0
+```
+
+Meson provides built-in equivalents for several CMake options:
+
+- `--default-library=<shared|static|both>` instead of `ICEBERG_BUILD_STATIC` / `ICEBERG_BUILD_SHARED`
+- `-Db_sanitize=address,undefined` instead of `ICEBERG_ENABLE_ASAN` / `ICEBERG_ENABLE_UBSAN`
+- `--libdir`, `--bindir`, `--includedir` for install directories
+
+Meson-specific options (configured via `-D<option>=<value>`):
+
+| Option | Default | Description |
+|--------|---------|-------------|
+| `rest` | `enabled` | Build REST catalog client |
+| `rest_integration_test` | `disabled` | Build integration test for REST catalog |
+| `tests` | `enabled` | Build tests |
+
 ### Build Examples
 
 After installing the core libraries, you can build the examples:
 
 ```bash
-cd iceberg-cpp/example
+cd example
 cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/path/to/install
 cmake --build build
 ```
 
-If you are using provided Apache Arrow, you need to include `/path/to/arrow` in `CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH` as below.
+If you are using provided Apache Arrow, include `/path/to/arrow` in `CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH`:
 
 ```bash
 cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="/path/to/install;/path/to/arrow"
 ```
 
+## Customizing Dependency URLs
+
+If you experience network issues when downloading dependencies, you can customize the download URLs using environment variables:
+
+- `ICEBERG_ARROW_URL`: Apache Arrow tarball URL
+- `ICEBERG_AVRO_URL`: Apache Avro tarball URL
+- `ICEBERG_AVRO_GIT_URL`: Apache Avro git repository URL
+- `ICEBERG_NANOARROW_URL`: Nanoarrow tarball URL
+- `ICEBERG_CROARING_URL`: CRoaring tarball URL
+- `ICEBERG_NLOHMANN_JSON_URL`: nlohmann-json tarball URL
+- `ICEBERG_CPR_URL`: cpr tarball URL
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+export ICEBERG_ARROW_URL="https://your-mirror.com/apache-arrow-22.0.0.tar.gz"
+cmake -S . -B build
+```
+
 ## Contribute
 
 Apache Iceberg is an active open-source project, governed under the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). Iceberg-cpp is open to people who want to contribute to it. Here are some ways to get involved:
@@ -116,7 +172,7 @@ In addition, contributors using AI-assisted tools must follow the documented gui
 
 Install the python package `pre-commit` and run once `pre-commit install`.
 
-```
+```bash
 pip install pre-commit
 pre-commit install
 ```
@@ -129,7 +185,7 @@ We provide Dev Container configuration file templates.
 
 To use a Dev Container as your development environment, follow the steps below, then select `Dev Containers: Reopen in Container` from VS Code's Command Palette.
 
-```
+```bash
 cd .devcontainer
 cp Dockerfile.template Dockerfile
 cp devcontainer.json.template devcontainer.json

mkdocs/README.md

@@ -19,9 +19,32 @@
 
 # Documentation
 
-To build the documentation:
+The website is built with [MkDocs](https://www.mkdocs.org/) (Material theme) and [Doxygen](https://www.doxygen.nl/) for API docs, hosted at https://cpp.iceberg.apache.org/.
 
-1. Install [Doxygen](https://www.doxygen.nl/).
-2. From this directory, run `doxygen`.
+## Prerequisites
 
-The output will be in `./build/html`.
+- Python 3 with pip
+- [Doxygen](https://www.doxygen.nl/)
+
+## Build
+
+From the project root:
+
+```bash
+make install-deps    # Install Python dependencies
+make build-api-docs  # Generate API docs with Doxygen
+make build-docs      # Build MkDocs site
+make all             # Build everything
+```
+
+## Local Preview
+
+```bash
+make serve-docs      # Serve at http://127.0.0.1:8000
+```
+
+## Clean
+
+```bash
+make clean-docs      # Remove generated files
+```

mkdocs/docs/assert/iceberg-logo-icon.png mkdocs/docs/assets/iceberg-logo-icon.pngmkdocs/docs/assert/iceberg-logo-icon.png renamed to mkdocs/docs/assets/iceberg-logo-icon.png

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+<!--
+  ~ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+  ~ or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+  ~ distributed with this work for additional information
+  ~ regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+  ~ to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+  ~ "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+  ~ with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+  ~ software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+  ~ "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+  ~ KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+  ~ specific language governing permissions and limitations
+  ~ under the License.
+-->
+
+# Contributing
+
+We welcome contributions to Apache Iceberg C++. For general Iceberg contribution guidelines, see the [official guide](https://iceberg.apache.org/contribute/). Contributors using AI-assisted tools must follow the [AI-assisted contribution guidelines](https://iceberg.apache.org/contribute/#guidelines-for-ai-assisted-contributions).
+
+For build and installation instructions, see [Getting Started](getting-started.md).
+
+## Coding Standard
+
+The project follows the same coding standard as [Apache Arrow](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/developers/cpp/development.html#code-style-linting-and-ci) (a variant of the Google’s C++ Style Guide)
+
+### Naming Conventions
+
+| Element | Style | Examples |
+|---------|-------|----------|
+| Classes / Structs | `PascalCase` | `TableScanBuilder`, `PartitionSpec` |
+| Factory methods | `PascalCase` | `CreateNamespace()`, `ExtractYear()` |
+| Accessors / Getters | `snake_case` | `name()`, `type_id()`, `partition_spec()` |
+| Variables | `snake_case` | `file_io`, `schema_id` |
+| Constants | `k` + `PascalCase` | `kHeaderContentType`, `kMaxPrecision` |
+
+### General Practices
+
+- Prefer smart pointers (`std::unique_ptr`, `std::shared_ptr`) for memory management
+- Use `Result<T>` for error propagation
+- Write Doxygen-style comments (`/// \brief ...`) for all public APIs
+- Do not remove public methods without a deprecation cycle:
+
+```cpp
+[[deprecated("Use new_method() instead. Will be removed in a future release.")]]
+void old_method();
+```
+
+## Development Environment
+
+### Code Formatting
+
+Formatting is enforced via `.clang-format` (Google base, `ColumnLimit: 90`). Set up `pre-commit` to run it automatically:
+
+```bash
+pip install pre-commit
+pre-commit install
+```
+
+To run all hooks manually on the entire codebase:
+
+```bash
+pre-commit run -a
+```
+
+### Dev Containers
+
+We provide Dev Container templates for VS Code:
+
+```bash
+cd .devcontainer
+cp Dockerfile.template Dockerfile
+cp devcontainer.json.template devcontainer.json
+```
+
+Then select `Dev Containers: Reopen in Container` from the Command Palette.
+
+## Submitting Changes
+
+### Workflow
+
+1. Fork the repository on GitHub
+2. Create a feature branch from `main`:
+   ```bash
+   git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
+   ```
+3. Make your changes following the coding standards
+4. Add or update tests for any behavioral changes
+5. Ensure all tests pass and `pre-commit run -a` is clean
+6. Push to your fork and open a Pull Request
+
+### Commit Messages
+
+Follow [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/):
+
+```
+feat: add support for S3 file system
+fix: resolve memory leak in table reader
+docs: update API documentation
+test: add unit tests for schema validation
+refactor(rest): simplify auth token handling
+```
+
+### Pull Request Checklist
+
+- Clear problem/solution description
+- Linked issue(s) when applicable
+- Tests for behavioral changes
+- Passing CI checks (tests, pre-commit, license header, sanitizers)
+
+## Getting Help
+
+- **GitHub Issues** — [Report bugs or request features](https://github.com/apache/iceberg-cpp/issues/new)
+- **Good First Issues** — [Browse here](https://github.com/apache/iceberg-cpp/labels/good%20first%20issue)
+- **Mailing List** — [dev@iceberg.apache.org](mailto:dev@iceberg.apache.org) ([subscribe](mailto:dev-subscribe@iceberg.apache.org?subject=(send%20this%20email%20to%20subscribe)) / [unsubscribe](mailto:dev-unsubscribe@iceberg.apache.org?subject=(send%20this%20email%20to%20unsubscribe)) / [archives](https://lists.apache.org/list.html?dev@iceberg.apache.org))
+- **Slack** — [#cpp channel](https://join.slack.com/t/apache-iceberg/shared_invite/zt-1zbov3k6e-KtJfoaxp97YfX6dPz1Bk7A)
+
+The Apache Iceberg community follows the [Apache Way](https://www.apache.org/theapacheway/index.html) and the Apache Foundation [Code of Conduct](https://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/conduct.html).