Debian Stable Point Release Bug Fix Criteria

Debian point releases are strictly curated updates designed to deliver essential bug fixes and security patches without compromising system stability. To maintain the rock-solid reliability of the Debian Stable branch, the Debian Release Team enforces a rigorous set of criteria before permitting any urgent fix into a point release. Updates must address critical flaws, carry minimal risk of regression, and receive explicit approval from the Stable Release Managers.

Severity and Impact of the Bug

Debian does not accept trivial or cosmetic fixes in point releases. For an urgent fix to be considered, the underlying issue must meet a high threshold of severity, typically falling into one of the following categories:

  • Security Vulnerabilities: Patches for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) managed in coordination with the Debian Security Team.
  • Data Loss or Corruption: Flaws that cause unrecoverable user data loss, filesystem corruption, or silent data manipulation.
  • System Crashes and Severe Regressions: Bugs causing core system instability, kernel panics, or application crashes during standard operation.
  • Package Unusability: Situations where a package completely fails to fulfill its primary function or cannot be installed/upgraded.

Minimal Diff and Low Regression Risk

Stability in Debian means predictability. Any accepted patch must be as small and non-intrusive as possible.

  • Targeted Changes: The patch must fix the specific issue without refactoring code, altering APIs, or modernizing unrelated functions.
  • No Feature Additions: Upstream version bumps and feature enhancements are strictly forbidden, with very rare exceptions for packages that require upstream updates to remain functional (such as browser engines, timezone data, or antivirus databases).
  • Isolation: The change must not introduce side effects that could break reverse dependencies or standard user configurations.

Prior Resolution in Testing or Unstable

Before an urgent fix is backported to a stable point release, it must generally be fixed and verified in Debian Unstable (sid) and have migrated to Debian Testing. This workflow ensures that the fix has undergone real-world testing and prevents the stable release from diverging unexpectedly from Debian's development line.

Stable Release Manager (SRM) Review and Approval

Package maintainers cannot directly upload fixes to a point release. The proposed change must follow a formal review process:

  1. Preparation: The maintainer prepares a debdiff showing only the exact changes between the current stable version and the proposed update.
  2. Filing a Request: The maintainer opens a bug report against the release.debian.org pseudo-package, detailing the rationale, bug impact, and the debdiff.
  3. SRM Evaluation: A Stable Release Manager reviews the code for safety, necessity, and adherence to Debian policy.
  4. Queue Acceptance: If approved, the package is uploaded to the proposed-updates queue, where it undergoes integration testing before being officially incorporated into the next scheduled point release.