Nulls SHOULD NOT be allowed in arrays. (#1214)

* Nulls SHOULD NOT be allowed in arrays. * Fill in CHANGELOG link Co-authored-by: Armin Ruech <[email protected]>
open-telemetry · Nov 11, 2020 · 06638fc · 06638fc
1 parent 4052a2c
commit 06638fc
Show file tree

Hide file tree

Showing 2 changed files with 5 additions and 0 deletions.
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ New:
 
 Updates:
 
+- Clarify null SHOULD NOT be allowed even in arrays
+  ([#1214](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1214))
 - Remove ordering SHOULD-requirement for attributes
   ([#1212](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/1212))
 - Make `process.pid` optional, split `process.command_args` from `command_line`

diff --git a/specification/common/common.md b/specification/common/common.md
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ processors / exporters.
 Attribute values of `null` are not valid and attempting to set a `null` value is
 undefined behavior.
 
+`null` values SHOULD NOT be allowed in arrays. However, if it is impossible to
+make sure that no `null` values are accepted
+(e.g. in languages that do not have appropriate compile-time type checking),
 `null` values within arrays MUST be preserved as-is (i.e., passed on to span
 processors / exporters as `null`). If exporters do not support exporting `null`
 values, they MAY replace those values by 0, `false`, or empty strings.