Artifacts in this repository follow the same compatibility requirements described in https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/blob/main/VERSIONING.md#compatibility-requirements .
EXCEPT for the following incompatible changes which are allowed in stable artifacts in this repository:
- Changes to the telemetry produced by instrumentation (there will be some guarantees about telemetry stability in the future, see discussions in open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification#1301)
- Changes to configuration properties that contain the word
experimental
- Changes to configuration properties under the namespace
otel.javaagent.testing
This means that:
- Changes to configuration properties (other than those that contain the word
experimental
or are under the namespaceotel.javaagent.testing
) will be considered breaking changes (unless they only affect telemetry produced by instrumentation)
See https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/blob/main/VERSIONING.md#stable-vs-alpha
IN PARTICULAR:
Not all of our artifacts are published as stable artifacts - any non-stable artifact has the suffix
-alpha
on its version. NONE of the guarantees described above apply to alpha artifacts. They may
require code or environment changes on every release and are not meant for consumption for users
where versioning stability is important.