What Does Showstopper Bug Mean?

A showstopper bug is a hardware or software bug that causes an implementation to stop and become essentially useless. This critical bug must be fixed for the development process to proceed further. The term “showstopper” is used in an opposite manner to its classic theatrical usage, which describes something that is strikingly good.

Techopedia Explains Showstopper Bug

There are various scenarios when a showstopper bug can arise. For example, a customer needs to perform a credit card payment online. The customer enters the billing page, fills up the required details and then clicks on the “Submit” button. The expected result would be a page that says “transaction successfully completed,” thanking the customer. However, sometimes, instead of showing the expected page, the system throws an error such as a “Web server” error or a “page not displayed” error. This critical error would then be logged as a showstopper as the customer is left with no workaround to continue with testing the billing page.