Bug#1144046: define term 'release critical'?

Simon Josefsson <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.linux.debian.devel.policy
Message-ID <8733wexpyd.fsf__40863.0899315298$1786879889$gmane$org@josefsson.org>
Sean Whitton <[email protected]> writes:

> Well, Policy requirements define what's release critical in general

Where/How?  Adding the term 'release critical' to where the concept is
defined in Policy is what the bug report is about.

There is no match for the keyword 'release critical' in the git
repository, and I can't find it using the search entry here either:

https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/search.html?q=release+critical

My patch adds the term 'release critical' to the first hit above, where
I think the concept is defined but without using the term 'release
critical'.

If you prefer a footnote over my earlier patch, how about the attached
version?

Of course, as illustrated by the discussion with Andrey, I may be
misunderstanding what the actual definition of 'release critical' is, or
how the term is supposed to be used.  My request is merely that the term
is defined somewhere, if it actually has any definition that can be
written down.  It is fine to dismiss this, but maybe discussion helps.

/Simon
0001-Mention-term-release-critical.patch (text/x-diff, 1.2 KB)
From 56e47630c4a9ebf6094c32437e1b4f72abcf78a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Simon Josefsson <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:36:52 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Mention term 'release critical'

---
 policy/ch-scope.rst | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/policy/ch-scope.rst b/policy/ch-scope.rst
index a279c26..4749b3b 100644
--- a/policy/ch-scope.rst
+++ b/policy/ch-scope.rst
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ describe the importance of each statement:  [#]_
   to these requirements will generally not be considered acceptable for
   the Debian distribution. These statements correspond to the *critical*,
   *grave*, and *serious* bug severities (normally serious). They are
-  collectively called *Policy requirements*.
+  collectively called *Policy requirements*.  [#]_
 
 * The terms *should* and *should not*, and the adjective *recommended*,
   denote best practices. Non-conformance with these guidelines will
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ about them.
    Compare RFC 2119. Note, however, that these words are used in a
    different way in this document.
 
+.. [#]
+   Sometimes refered to as *release critical*.
+
 .. _s1.2:
 
 New versions of this document
-- 
2.54.0
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