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According to RFC2119, which defines these terms, "should" and "should not" are recommendations with the caveat that individuals not following said recommendatio
by frankchn 9y ago
According to RFC2119, which defines these terms, "should" and "should not" are recommendations with the caveat that individuals not following said recommendations need to understand the full implications what they are doing.
On the other hand, the words "must" and "must not" specify absolute requirements and prohibitions of the standard, respectively.
- shkkmo 9y agoI think the confusion comes from parsing the poorly worded "only X should be altered" which doesn't really make it clear how the "should" applies. The clear wording would be "... should only alter X" which makes it clear that altering things other than X needs be be done with full understanding of the implications.