DOC: Add clarifications to docs for setting up a development environment

doc/source/development/contributing_environment.rst

@@ -44,8 +44,9 @@ and consult the ``Linux`` instructions below.
 **macOS**
 
 To use the :ref:`mamba <contributing.mamba>`-based compilers, you will need to install the
-Developer Tools using ``xcode-select --install``. Otherwise
-information about compiler installation can be found here:
+Developer Tools using ``xcode-select --install``.
+
+If you prefer to use a different compiler, general information can be found here:
 https://devguide.python.org/setup/#macos
 
 **Linux**
@@ -87,14 +88,24 @@ Option 1: using mamba (recommended)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 * Install `mamba <https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation/mamba-installation.html>`_
+  (the instructions may direct you to install `miniforge <https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge>`_,
+  which is OK - it includes mamba)
 * Make sure your mamba is up to date (``mamba update mamba``)
+* Create and activate the ``pandas-dev`` mamba environment using the following commands:
 
 .. code-block:: none
 
-   # Create and activate the build environment
    mamba env create --file environment.yml
    mamba activate pandas-dev
 
+* Ensure any python packages without a version specified in the ``environment.yml`` file
+  in the root directory are the most recent version:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+    mamba activate pandas-dev
+    mamba update --all
+
 .. _contributing.pip:
 
 Option 2: using pip
@@ -273,13 +284,21 @@ uses to import the extension from the build folder, which may cause errors such
    You will need to repeat this step each time the C extensions change, for example
    if you modified any file in ``pandas/_libs`` or if you did a fetch and merge from ``upstream/main``.
 
+**Checking the build**
+
 At this point you should be able to import pandas from your locally built version::
 
    $ python
    >>> import pandas
    >>> print(pandas.__version__)  # note: the exact output may differ
    2.0.0.dev0+880.g2b9e661fbb.dirty
 
+
+At this point you may want to try
+`running the test suite <https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/dev/development/contributing_codebase.html#running-the-test-suite>`_.
+
+**Keeping up to date with the latest build**
+
 When building pandas with meson, importing pandas will automatically trigger a rebuild, even when C/Cython files are modified.
 By default, no output will be produced by this rebuild (the import will just take longer). If you would like to see meson's
 output when importing pandas, you can set the environment variable ``MESONPY_EDTIABLE_VERBOSE``. For example, this would be::