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Software Engineering vocabulary · Release and Maintenance

Patch

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/pætʃ/nounCore term

In software engineering, patch means: A small update that fixes bugs or security problems in software without adding big new features. It is also a verb: to patch a system.

In Turkish: yama, düzeltme

How it is used

Teams release, apply or roll out a patch. 'Security patch' and 'patch release' are common. In semantic versioning, going from 1.4.2 to 1.4.3 is a patch version. As a verb: 'We patched the vulnerability within a day.'

Example sentences

  1. Apply the security patch to all servers before Friday.

  2. Version 2.1.1 is a patch release; it only fixes the export bug.

Common collocations

  • security patch
  • apply a patch
  • patch release
  • patch a vulnerability
  • hotfixAn urgent fix for a serious problem in production, released quickly outside the normal release schedule.
  • releaseA version of a product that is made available to users, or the act of making it available. Also a verb: to release a new version.
  • semantic versioningA version-numbering rule with three parts, MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH: the first number changes for breaking changes, the second for new features and the third for bug fixes.
  • upgradeTo move to a newer, usually better version of software, a library or a tool, for example from Python 3.10 to Python 3.12.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Release and Maintenance

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