Software requirements

Software requirements^[1] for a system are the description of what the system should do, the service or services that it provides and the constraints on its operation. The IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology defines a requirement as:^[2]

A condition or capability needed by a user to solve a problem or achieve an objective
A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a system or system component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed document
A documented representation of a condition or capability as in 1 or 2

The activities related to working with software requirements can broadly be broken down into elicitation, analysis, specification, and management.^[3]

Note that the wording Software requirements is additionally used in software release notes to explain, which depending on software packages are required for a certain software to be built/installed/used.^[1]

^ ^a ^b "Linux kernel release 5.x — The Linux Kernel documentation". www.kernel.org. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
^ IEEE Computer Society (1990). "IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology". IEEE Standard. Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
^ "Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge". IEEE Computer Society. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2013.

[:0-1] "Linux kernel release 5.x — The Linux Kernel documentation". www.kernel.org. Retrieved 2021-03-25.

[2] IEEE Computer Society (1990). "IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology". IEEE Standard. Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2013-01-11.

[3] "Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge". IEEE Computer Society. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2013.

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