This paper deals with several issues in the ductile tearing assessment relevant to the fracture criteria and test methods covering the determination of the crack growth resistance under low-constraint conditions. Specifically, the effects of the specimen geometry and size, type and length of the original stress raiser, boundary restraints, load biaxiality, loading history, and plastic anisotropy were studied experimentally. With regard to the problem of transferring crack growth data, our results demonstrate that underlying assumptions of the current concept of ductile tearing evoke a suspicion from different points of view. To clarify the reasons for a gap between the model descriptions and measurements, we put forward an innovative engineering concept enabling through-life assessment of the fracture process in sheet metals.