diff --git a/manage.py b/manage.py
index d61be1e1d6..1a2af68cd2 100755
--- a/manage.py
+++ b/manage.py
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ import types
 BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 sys.path.append(BASE_DIR)
 import scripts.lib.setup_path_on_import
-from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import script_should_not_be_root
+from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import assert_not_running_as_root
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    script_should_not_be_root()
+    assert_not_running_as_root()
     if (os.access('/etc/zulip/zulip.conf', os.R_OK) and not
             os.access('/etc/zulip/zulip-secrets.conf', os.R_OK)):
         # The best way to detect running manage.py as another user in
diff --git a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip
index 1c40495d18..b1e92bf10b 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip
+++ b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ os.environ["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "y"
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
 from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, \
-    su_to_zulip, get_deployment_lock, release_deployment_lock, script_should_be_root
+    su_to_zulip, get_deployment_lock, release_deployment_lock, assert_running_as_root
 
-script_should_be_root(strip_lib_from_paths=True)
+assert_running_as_root(strip_lib_from_paths=True)
 
 logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime
 logging.basicConfig(format="%(asctime)s upgrade-zulip: %(message)s",
diff --git a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-from-git b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-from-git
index 9904cf61d7..e208926d75 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-from-git
+++ b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-from-git
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@ os.environ["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "y"
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
 from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, make_deploy_path, \
-    get_deployment_lock, release_deployment_lock, su_to_zulip, script_should_be_root
+    get_deployment_lock, release_deployment_lock, su_to_zulip, assert_running_as_root
 
-script_should_be_root(strip_lib_from_paths=True)
+assert_running_as_root(strip_lib_from_paths=True)
 
 logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime
 logging.basicConfig(format="%(asctime)s upgrade-zulip-from-git: %(message)s",
diff --git a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2 b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
index 33e0e8c514..a7bd58ddda 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
+++ b/scripts/lib/upgrade-zulip-stage-2
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ os.environ["LANG"] = "en_US.UTF-8"
 os.environ["LANGUAGE"] = "en_US.UTF-8"
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..'))
-from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, su_to_zulip, script_should_be_root
+from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import DEPLOYMENTS_DIR, FAIL, WARNING, ENDC, su_to_zulip, assert_running_as_root
 
-script_should_be_root()
+assert_running_as_root()
 
 logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime
 logging.basicConfig(format="%(asctime)s upgrade-zulip-stage-2: %(message)s",
diff --git a/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py b/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
index 75d4a7e089..02db7619b4 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ def is_root() -> bool:
         return True
     return False
 
-def script_should_not_be_root() -> None:
+def assert_not_running_as_root() -> None:
     script_name = os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0])
     if is_root():
         msg = ("{shortname} should not be run as root. Use `su zulip` to switch to the 'zulip'\n"
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ def script_should_not_be_root() -> None:
         print(msg)
         sys.exit(1)
 
-def script_should_be_root(strip_lib_from_paths: bool=False) -> None:
+def assert_running_as_root(strip_lib_from_paths: bool=False) -> None:
     script_name = os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0])
     # Since these Python scripts are run inside a thin shell wrapper,
     # we need to replace the paths in order to ensure we instruct
diff --git a/scripts/zulip-puppet-apply b/scripts/zulip-puppet-apply
index c9e875b26f..2116d8dbb2 100755
--- a/scripts/zulip-puppet-apply
+++ b/scripts/zulip-puppet-apply
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ import sys
 import subprocess
 import configparser
 import re
-from lib.zulip_tools import parse_lsb_release, script_should_be_root
+from lib.zulip_tools import parse_lsb_release, assert_running_as_root
 
-script_should_be_root()
+assert_running_as_root()
 
 force = False
 extra_args = sys.argv[1:]