What is described as an urgent software update made to resolve a critical issue in a production environment?

The term that describes an urgent software update made to resolve a critical issue in a production environment is hotfix deployment. A hotfix is specifically designed to address immediate issues or bugs that are causing significant problems or downtime in a live system. Unlike regular updates, which may follow a scheduled or routine plan, hotfixes are often released on an ad-hoc basis and prioritize rapid deployment to minimize impact on users and systems.

Patch deployment generally refers to updates that may include enhancements, bug fixes, or security improvements but may not necessarily be urgent. Version updates typically signify larger, planned updates that introduce new features or capabilities, while routine upgrades are systematic enhancements that do not usually focus on immediate problem resolution and are often part of an ongoing maintenance cycle.