Add a identifier for agent/distro

[carlosalberto]

Currently the OTel SDKs will provide some information such as opentelemetry.sdk.name and opentelemetry.language.version, which is very helpful. Now, I'm wondering if we could add something (optional) to identify the actual so-called distros (Amazon, Lightstep, Splunk, NewRelic, etc), whether it's an agent (Java, DotNet or Python) or a custom Collector instance.

A pair of names that come to mind: opentelemetry.agent or opentelemetry.distro.name?

[Oberon00]

There is telemetry.auto.version already which would should be the opentelemetry.agent.version. There is no corresponding telemetry.auto.name though, and a distro probably doesn't qualify as "auto".

[jmacd]

Maybe telemetry.sdk.distribution?

[iNikem]

There is telemetry.auto.version already which would should be the opentelemetry.agent.version. There is no corresponding telemetry.auto.name though, and a distro probably doesn't qualify as "auto".

I think that custom distribution of instrumentation agent certainly qualifies as "auto". At least in Java world.

Maybe telemetry.sdk.distribution?

(Auto-)Instrumentation agent is certainly not a SDK distribution :)

[tedsuo]

how about opentelemetry.distro? I agree it should not be under openTelemetry.sdk.

I'd prefer all of these attributes live under the opentelemetry namespace, personally.

[tedsuo]

(BTW, distros are not always "auto." In general, "auto" is a rather murky concept outside of Java.)

As distros have typically own versioning, we could go with opentelemetry.distro.name and opentelemetry.distro.version.

[trask]

(BTW, distros are not always "auto." In general, "auto" is a rather murky concept outside of Java.)

As distros have typically own versioning, we could go with opentelemetry.distro.name and opentelemetry.distro.version.

I like this, and maybe we could then deprecate/remove telemetry.auto.version.

[bogdandrutu]

I think we can simply reuse the telemetry.sdk.* because there will be an 1:1 mapping between the distro and the sdk so that information can be determined if needed (what actual official SDK is used).

[ocelotl]

I asked Claude to review this issue and Claude suggests it be closed with this explanation:

The requested distro identifier attributes now exist as stable resource attributes telemetry.distro.name and telemetry.distro.version in the semantic-conventions repo (docs/resource, entity telemetry.distro, marked Stable). The naming discussion in the thread converged on exactly distro.name/distro.version; the original spec PR #1821 was closed but the feature landed in semantic-conventions where resource semconv now lives.

To guard against a mistaken suggestion, Claude then independently re-verified this conclusion:

Confirmed stable telemetry.distro.name/telemetry.distro.version in semantic-conventions model/telemetry/registry.yaml (stability: stable), briefs exactly match the ask; spec PR #1821 was closed unmerged but feature landed in semconv where resource semconv now lives.

Claude evaluated this issue with high confidence that it can be closed.

Claude has classified this issue as resolved.

The intention of this comment is to make it easier for a human being to review this issue before making a decision.