diff --git a/doc/source/development/contributing.rst b/doc/source/development/contributing.rst
index 163d345b4f829..b85e9403038ab 100644
--- a/doc/source/development/contributing.rst
+++ b/doc/source/development/contributing.rst
@@ -136,6 +136,10 @@ want to clone your fork to your machine::
 This creates the directory `pandas-yourname` and connects your repository to
 the upstream (main project) *pandas* repository.
 
+Note that performing a shallow clone (with ``--depth==N``, for some ``N`` greater
+or equal to 1) might break some tests and features as ``pd.show_versions()``
+as the version number cannot be computed anymore.
+
 .. _contributing.dev_env:
 
 Creating a development environment