Update profiles specification README.md and pprof.md by christos68k · Pull Request #4932 · open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification

christos68k · 2026-03-11T09:10:18Z

Changes

This update takes into account the recent introduction of a profiles signal concepts page, removes duplicate information and adds more relevant documentation.

There is a follow-up PR here that adds the current data format page.

CC: @theletterf @open-telemetry/profiling-maintainers @open-telemetry/profiling-approvers

Related issues: #7874
CHANGELOG.md file updated for non-trivial changes
- For trivial changes, include [chore] in the PR title to skip the changelog check

This update take into account the recent introduction of a profiles signal concepts page, removes duplicate information and adds more relevant documentation.

felixge

Some nits, but LGTM overall.

Co-authored-by: Felix Geisendörfer <felix@felixge.de>

christos68k · 2026-03-19T12:22:13Z

I pushed a commit to update status from Development to Alpha.

tigrannajaryan · 2026-03-25T15:14:04Z

Closing/opening to trigger the build.

tigrannajaryan · 2026-04-02T15:02:45Z

@open-telemetry/specs-approvers PTAL

tigrannajaryan · 2026-04-02T15:41:08Z

@open-telemetry/specs-approvers PTAL

github-actions · 2026-04-17T04:15:13Z

This PR was marked stale. It will be closed in 14 days without additional activity.

github-actions · 2026-05-01T04:33:32Z

Closed as inactive. Feel free to reopen if this PR is still being worked on.

christos68k · 2026-05-05T22:44:14Z

@tigrannajaryan Everything is resolved now and should be ready for merge

tigrannajaryan · 2026-05-05T22:52:15Z

@christos68k please check the build errors.

christos68k · 2026-05-06T00:21:41Z

@christos68k please check the build errors.

The markdown lint error is due to the missing data-format.md file, which is introduced in this PR (data format) that still needs a second approval.

We can either merge #4932 now, or wait until #4965 gets merged first (hopefully we get a second approval there soon).

github-actions · 2026-05-20T04:38:13Z

This PR was marked stale. It will be closed in 14 days without additional activity.

@theletterf

…4932) ## Changes This update takes into account the [recent introduction](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io/pull/9339/changes) of a profiles signal concepts [page](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/profiles/), removes duplicate information and adds more relevant documentation. There is a follow-up PR [here](open-telemetry#4965) that adds the current data format page. CC: @theletterf @open-telemetry/profiling-maintainers @open-telemetry/profiling-approvers * [X] Related issues: [#7874](open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io#7874) * [X] [`CHANGELOG.md`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md) file updated for non-trivial changes * For trivial changes, include `[chore]` in the PR title to skip the changelog check --------- Co-authored-by: Felix Geisendörfer <felix@felixge.de>

### Context - Clarify that environment variable propagation carriers normalize requested keys, carrier keys, and returned keys. ([open-telemetry#5102](open-telemetry#5102)) - Specify that environment variable propagation carriers only read and return normalized environment variable names. ([open-telemetry#5144](open-telemetry#5144)) - Specify that an empty environment variable propagation name is non-normalized and normalizes to `_`. ([open-telemetry#5163](open-telemetry#5163)) ### Profiles - Remove duplicate information from and extend Profiles documentation (README.md, pprof.md). ([open-telemetry#4932](open-telemetry#4932)) ### Entities - Add specification for communicating entity information as structured log events. ([open-telemetry#4836](open-telemetry#4836)) ### Common - Add an in-development [SDK self-observability](specification/self-observability.md) section, referenced from the Tracing, Metrics, and Logs SDK specs. ([open-telemetry#5087](open-telemetry#5087)) - Clarify non-OTLP representation guidance for nested `AnyValue` values in arrays and maps. ([open-telemetry#5053](open-telemetry#5053)) - Add in-development guidance recommending a JSON object as the string representation for an attribute in non-OTLP protocols. ([open-telemetry#5028](open-telemetry#5028)) - Add in-development guidance recommending a JSON object as the string representation for an attribute collection in non-OTLP protocols. ([open-telemetry#5110](open-telemetry#5110)) ### Compatibility - Deprecate OpenCensus compatibility requirements in the specification. ([open-telemetry#5138](open-telemetry#5138)) - Stabilize sections of Prometheus Metrics Exporter. - Clarify resource attributes configuration. ([open-telemetry#5084](open-telemetry#5084)) - Stabilize the conversion of OTLP Summaries into Prometheus Summaries. ([open-telemetry#5107](open-telemetry#5107)) - Stabilize client libs section. ([open-telemetry#5106](open-telemetry#5106)) - Stabilize Prometheus Metrics Exporter default aggregation configuration. ([open-telemetry#5113](open-telemetry#5113)) - Stabilize sections of Prometheus and OpenMetrics Compatibility. - Stabilize OpenTelemetry Histogram to Prometheus Histogram transformation. ([open-telemetry#5091](open-telemetry#5091)) - Add optional OpenTelemetry Histogram to Prometheus Native Histogram with Custom Buckets transformation. ([open-telemetry#5091](open-telemetry#5091)) ### SDK Configuration - Add link to declarative config IdGenerator type ([open-telemetry#5133](open-telemetry#5133)) ### OTEPs - Context-scoped Attributes. ([open-telemetry#4931](open-telemetry#4931)) --------- Co-authored-by: Reiley Yang <reyang@microsoft.com>

@theletterf

## Changes Adds a data format description for OpenTelemetry profiles. I took some content from the old [OTEP](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/oteps/profiles/0239-profiles-data-model.md) but decided to leave all of the historical information out, both for clarity/focus and to improve readability (a technical specification doesn't read very well by nature). We could add additional references and expand on design decisions in a future `data-format-appendix.md` document. Also see: open-telemetry#4932 (This PR is a follow-up) CC: @theletterf @tigrannajaryan @open-telemetry/profiling-maintainers @open-telemetry/profiling-approvers For non-trivial changes, follow the [change proposal process](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#proposing-a-change). * [X] Related issues: [#7874](open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io#7874) * [X] [`CHANGELOG.md`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md) file updated for non-trivial changes * For trivial changes, include `[chore]` in the PR title to skip the changelog check --------- Co-authored-by: Roger Coll <roger.coll@elastic.co> Co-authored-by: Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti <fabri.ferribenedetti@elastic.co> Co-authored-by: Alexey Alexandrov <aalexand@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Tigran Najaryan <4194920+tigrannajaryan@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Florian Lehner <florianl@users.noreply.github.com>

Update profiles specification README.md and pprof.md

e06176d

This update take into account the recent introduction of a profiles signal concepts page, removes duplicate information and adds more relevant documentation.

christos68k requested review from a team as code owners March 11, 2026 09:10

Update changelog

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christos68k mentioned this pull request Mar 11, 2026

Add documentation for Profiling open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io#7874

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Minor stylistic update

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christos68k commented Mar 11, 2026

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christos68k added the spec:profiling Related to the specification/profiling directory label Mar 11, 2026

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Fix links

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Update language in pprof.md

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christos68k and others added 3 commits March 11, 2026 13:06

Update specification/profiles/README.md

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Co-authored-by: Felix Geisendörfer <felix@felixge.de>

Update specification/profiles/README.md

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Co-authored-by: Felix Geisendörfer <felix@felixge.de>

Update specification/profiles/README.md

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Co-authored-by: Felix Geisendörfer <felix@felixge.de>

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Comment thread specification/profiles/pprof.md

Update language re: definition of a profile

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tigrannajaryan self-assigned this Mar 18, 2026

Change status from Development to Alpha

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christos68k mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Add profiles data format #4965

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Update 'data model' to 'data format'

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tigrannajaryan closed this Mar 25, 2026

christos68k added 3 commits April 1, 2026 12:22

Merge remote-tracking branch 'upstream/main' into ck/profiles

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Update Changelog

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Fix wording for ID

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Merged via the queue into open-telemetry:main with commit f1c6078 May 27, 2026
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cijothomas mentioned this pull request May 27, 2026

Broken link: specification/profiles/data-format.md does not exist #5119

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Update OpenTelemetry Exponential Histogram to Prometheus Native Histogram translation #5125

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chalin mentioned this pull request Jun 2, 2026

DRAFT Update opentelemetry-specification to unreleased v1.58.0-dev open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io#9982

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Release 1.58.0 #5164

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