diff --git a/CONTRIBUTE b/CONTRIBUTE
index 0b68052a0cd..efd4bf10ecd 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTE
+++ b/CONTRIBUTE
@@ -287,15 +287,23 @@ the current release branch.  Periodically, the current release branch
 is merged into the master, using the gitmerge function described in
 admin/notes/git-workflow.
 
-If you are fixing a bug that exists in the current release, be sure to
-commit it to the release branch; it will be merged to the master
-branch later by the gitmerge function.
+If you are fixing a bug that exists in the current release, you should
+generally commit it to the release branch; it will be merged to the
+master branch later by the gitmerge function.  However, when the
+release branch is for Emacs version NN.2 and later, or when it is for
+Emacs version NN.1 that is in the very last stages of its pretest,
+that branch is considered to be in a feature freeze: only bug fixes
+that are "safe" or are fixing major problems should go to the release
+branch, the rest should be committed to the master branch.  This is so
+to avoid destabilizing the next Emacs release.  If you are unsure
+whether your bug fix is "safe" enough for the release branch, ask on
+the emacs-devel mailing list.
 
-Documentation fixes (in doc strings, in manuals, and in comments)
-should always go to the release branch, if the documentation to be
-fixed exists and is relevant to the release-branch codebase.  Doc
-fixes are always considered "safe" -- even when a release branch is in
-feature freeze, it can still receive doc fixes.
+Documentation fixes (in doc strings, in manuals, in NEWS, and in
+comments) should always go to the release branch, if the documentation
+to be fixed exists and is relevant to the release-branch codebase.
+Doc fixes are always considered "safe" -- even when a release branch
+is in feature freeze, it can still receive doc fixes.
 
 When you know that the change will be difficult to merge to the
 master (e.g., because the code on master has changed a lot), you can