diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index da9687cec..98d669136 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -233,11 +233,33 @@ wrapper as follows:
 bluealsa-aplay -L
 ```
 
+## Release Policy
+
+The bluez-alsa project does not create nor distribute release software
+packages. However, at irregular intervals, when an important new feature or fix
+is considered stable then the `master` branch is tagged with a release version
+number. These tags are included only to mark reference baselines; their main
+purpose is to help Linux distribution package maintainers to relate their own
+package versioning schemes to the original codebase.
+
+A release tag is formed as `vN.N.N` where the first number indicates a change
+that is **not** backwards compatible (often a change to the D-Bus API), the
+second a feature addition that **is** backwards compatible, and the third a
+backwards compatible bug-fix or internal change. This scheme complies with the
+rules of [Semantic Versioning]. The most significant changes included in each
+tag are listed in the [NEWS] file. For more detail on the changes please
+consult the [commit history].
+
+All changes are applied only to the `master` branch. There are no release
+branches and no support for old release tags. Distributions are expected to
+maintain their own patches if they need to support a package based on a release
+tag without upgrading to the latest `master` branch source.
+
 ## Contributing
 
 This project welcomes contributions of code, documentation and testing.
 
-Please see the [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md) guide for details.
+Please see the [CONTRIBUTING] guide for details.
 
 ## Bug reports, feature requests, and requests for help
 
@@ -253,13 +275,21 @@ issue will not discover the information in there.
 
 If reporting a problem as a new issue, please use the appropriate
 [bluez-alsa GitHub issue reporting template][] and complete each section of
-the template as fully as possible.
-
+the template as fully as possible. Note that the `Bug report` template should
+be used for all questions relating to a specific installation of BlueALSA, even
+if you are not sure that it is a bug. In this way readers will
+be given specific information about the context of the problem which will make
+it easier to find a solution.
+
+[NEWS]: NEWS
+[CONTRIBUTING]: CONTRIBUTING.md
 [TROUBLESHOOTING]: TROUBLESHOOTING.md
 [manual pages]: doc/
+[commit history]: https://github.com/arkq/bluez-alsa/commits/master/
 [previous issues]: https://github.com/arkq/bluez-alsa/issues
 [wiki]: https://github.com/arkq/bluez-alsa/wiki
 [bluez-alsa GitHub issue reporting template]: https://github.com/arkq/bluez-alsa/issues/new/choose
+[Semantic Versioning]: https://semver.org/
 
 ## License