oss_18_prometheus_openmetrics_compat #29

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1. ocelotl commented on Jul 22, 2026

   

   ocelotl

   on Jul 22, 2026

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   🔒 Internal (dash0) — not for upstream.

   • Linear: https://linear.app/dash0/issue/OSS-18/m5-m9-prometheusopenmetrics-compatibility-bundle (findings M5-M9)
   • Slug/branch/worktree: oss_18_prometheus_openmetrics_compat
   • Commit: 388bd1b3a · PR: oss_18_prometheus_openmetrics_compat #35
   • Validation: prometheus exporter suite 38 passed (31 existing + 7 new); scope package + changelog. All 5 sub-items done, none deferred.
   • Impl notes: exemplars use hex trace_id/span_id, first exemplar per data point (histogram → +Inf bucket); _total suppression rewrites family.samples; conflicting-type tracking resets per collect().
2. ocelotl commented on Jul 22, 2026

   

   ocelotl

   on Jul 22, 2026

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   📣 Public-facing draft — to be opened upstream in open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python. No internal references; copy verbatim.

   Title: Prometheus exporter diverges from the Prometheus/OpenMetrics compatibility spec (attribute collisions, exemplars, counter suffix, conflicting types, reserved scope labels)

   The Python Prometheus exporter (exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-prometheus/src/opentelemetry/exporter/prometheus/__init__.py) is missing several behaviors required by the Prometheus and OpenMetrics compatibility specification (specification/compatibility/prometheus_and_openmetrics.md) that Go and Java already provide.

   1. Colliding sanitized attribute keys silently overwrite each other. In _collect_data_points, attributes are sanitized and written into a dict keyed by the sanitized label: labels[label] = self._check_value(value). Two source keys that sanitize to the same label (e.g. foo.bar and foo/bar → foo_bar) collide and the last wins. Fix: accumulate all values per sanitized label and ;-join them, sorted by original key.

   2. Exemplars are never emitted. _populate_counter_family / _populate_histogram_family call add_metric(...) without reading data_point.exemplars, so SDK-recorded exemplars are lost. Fix: map OTel exemplars to prometheus_client exemplars (trace_id/span_id labels), attaching on counters and (for histograms) the +Inf bucket.

   3. The _total suffix cannot be disabled. CounterMetricFamily always appends _total with no opt-out. Fix: add a without_counter_suffixes constructor flag on PrometheusMetricReader.

   4. No conflicting-TYPE handling. _translate_metric unconditionally builds a family per metric; two metrics sharing a name but different Prometheus types produce an exposition Prometheus rejects. Fix: track the type chosen per metric name within a collection, drop later conflicting families, and warn.

   5. Scope attributes can clobber reserved otel_scope_* labels. A data-point attribute that sanitizes to otel_scope_name/_version/_schema_url overwrites the scope-provided value. Fix: skip data-point attributes whose sanitized name collides with a reserved otel_scope_* label.