Clarify environment carrier key normalization behavior#5102
Open
pellared wants to merge 4 commits into
Open
Conversation
This was referenced May 18, 2026
Member
Author
|
CC @open-telemetry/semconv-cicd-approvers @jack-berg @marcalff @Joibel |
martincostello
approved these changes
May 18, 2026
kamphaus
approved these changes
May 18, 2026
jack-berg
approved these changes
May 18, 2026
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Towards #5040
Changes
Clarifies the environment variable propagation carrier key normalization requirements:
Setwrites values using normalized key names.Getnormalizes both the requested propagator key and carrier keys before matching.Keysreturns normalized key names.Motivation
The existing text defined how key names are normalized, but it did not explicitly say where that normalization applies. This PR clarifies that normalization is part of the carrier behavior for writing, reading, and listing keys.
This follows the robustness principle: carriers write the normalized representation, while getters can still accept a non-normalized environment variable key if it normalizes to the requested propagation key. For example, a non-normalized
traceparentenvironment variable can still be used by the propagation getter when matchingTRACEPARENT.This retrospects #4944 (comment) now that implementations are in place.
Implementation references
Related Java discussion: open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java#8233 (comment)