HTTP span status: use SHOULD instead of MUST for errors

.chloggen/1167.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+change_type: bug_fix
+component: http
+note: "Relax requirement on when to set HTTP span status to Error from `MUST` to `SHOULD`."
+issues: [1167, 1003]

docs/http/http-spans.md

@@ -93,19 +93,31 @@ Instrumentation MUST NOT default to using URI path as a `{target}`.
 the response body; or 3xx codes with max redirects exceeded), in which case status
 MUST be set to `Error`.
 
+> **Note:**
+>
+> The classification of an HTTP status code as an error depends on the context.
+> For example, a 404 "Not Found" status code indicates an error if the application
+> expected the resource to be available. However, it is not an error when the
+> application is simply checking whether the resource exists.
+>
+> Instrumentations that have additional context about a specific request MAY use
+> this context to set the span status more precisely.
+> Instrumentations that don't have any additional context MUST follow the
+> guidelines in this section.
+
 For HTTP status codes in the 4xx range span status MUST be left unset in case of `SpanKind.SERVER`
-and MUST be set to `Error` in case of `SpanKind.CLIENT`.
+and SHOULD be set to `Error` in case of `SpanKind.CLIENT`.
 
 For HTTP status codes in the 5xx range, as well as any other code the client
-failed to interpret, span status MUST be set to `Error`.
+failed to interpret, span status SHOULD be set to `Error`.
 
 Don't set the span status description if the reason can be inferred from `http.response.status_code`.
 
 HTTP request may fail if it was cancelled or an error occurred preventing
 the client or server from sending/receiving the request/response fully.
 
-When instrumentation detects such errors it MUST set span status to `Error`
-and MUST set the `error.type` attribute.
+When instrumentation detects such errors it SHOULD set span status to `Error`
+and SHOULD set the `error.type` attribute.
 
 ## HTTP client