Clarification of AV Rule 6 from the F-35 Air Vehicle C++ CODING STANDARD; Doc. No. 2RDU00001 Rev C

Question

There's probably a better place for this question, since it's not a coding question per se. But it comes from a relatively high profile coding standard, so this seemed like a good place to start.

In the statement at the end of AV Rule 6 (below) "AV Rule 5 notwithstanding": Does that mean ignore AV Rule 5 in this case (i.e. this is ALWAYS true/enforced no matter what)?

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AV Rule 5

To break a “will” or a “shall” rule, the following approvals must be received by the developer:

• approval from the software engineering lead (obtained by the unit approval in the developmental CM tool)
• approval from the software product manager (obtained by the unit approval in the developmental CM tool)

AV Rule 6

Each deviation from a “shall” rule shall be documented in the file that contains the deviation). Deviations from this rule shall not be allowed, AV Rule 5 notwithstanding.

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Full document here: http://www.stroustrup.com/JSF-AV-rules.pdf

Answer 1

Exactly. In other words it is not in the power of the software engineering lead and software product manager to approve your not documenting deviations from "will" or "shall" rules.