Bug#1144046: define term 'release critical'?

Simon Josefsson <[email protected]> Sun, 16 Aug 2026 13:51:28 +0200

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.policy
Message-ID	<87tsouwaf3.fsf__38831.9209379674$1786881092$gmane$org@josefsson.org>

Sean Whitton <[email protected]> writes:

> Simon Josefsson [16/Aug  1:30pm +02] wrote:
>> 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.
>
> You quoted the text where Policy requirements are defined.  Basically,
> 'must' and 'should'.

The text is:

   The terms must and must not, and the adjectives required and
   prohibited, denote strong requirements. Packages that do not conform
   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.

It is the third sentence:

   These statements correspond to the critical, grave, and serious bug
   severities (normally serious)

that I believe carry a simple definition of 'release critical'.

>> If you prefer a footnote over my earlier patch, how about the attached
>> version?
>
> I think that we ought to make reference to the release team like I
> suggested.

How about:

   A 'release critical' bug is a bug with severity critical, grave, and
   serious.  The release team publish the criteria for these severity
   levels at https://release.debian.org/testing/rc_policy.txt

Would that make more sense?  I'm not sure where this should go.

/Simon

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