Update default OTEL_PROPAGATORS setting to be 'baggage,xray,tracecontext'
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mxiamxia
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Jul 8, 2025
mxiamxia
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aws-distro-opentelemetry-node-autoinstrumentation/test/aws-opentelemetry-configurator.test.ts
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OTEL_PROPAGATORS setting to be 'tracecontext,baggage,xray'OTEL_PROPAGATORS setting to be 'baggage,xray,tracecontext'
mxiamxia
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## Issue The [`OTEL_PROPAGATORS` configured in the ADOT](https://github.com/aws-observability/aws-otel-python-instrumentation/blob/af71c4a100f0ae9c8d378db8487988344485b0c3/aws-opentelemetry-distro/src/amazon/opentelemetry/distro/aws_opentelemetry_distro.py#L73) do not actually take effect. The configured propagators are still `tracecontext` and `baggage` which are the default ones configured by OTel SDK. This causes ADOT to ignore the `x-amzn-trace-id` trace header causing broken traces if there is only XRay format trace being propagated. ## Root Cause - The [`opentelemetry.propagate` module](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/blob/main/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/propagate/__init__.py) has [the logic to load the propagators](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/blob/0a2df97a72561552fb72e41c6fd092578a5f43e9/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/propagate/__init__.py#L124-L163) configured via the `OTEL_PROPAGATORS` env variable. If the env variable is not set, then it sets up the default propagators. - This module is loaded and run very early in the OTel startup logic even before the ADOT distro code is run which sets the `OTEL_PROPAGATORS` env variable. This point is too late to modify the OTEL_PROPAGATORS env variable. ## Solution Set the `OTEL_PROPAGATORS` env variable in ADOT distro **and** reload the `opentelemetry.propagate` module (using [importlib.reload](https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.html#importlib.reload)) which will force it to reinitialize the intended propagators. ## Related Note With this fix, the ADOT configured propagators will take effect, which currently does not include `baggage` and will break some existing functionality that depends on baggage. So I'm also also updating the propagators set by the ADOT to: - include `baggage` - drop the B3 propagators as [ADOT JS did](aws-observability/aws-otel-js-instrumentation@82e563c#diff-02388c43665de519f206132ad186755c563709c77f6de9f919a4e70fc51abc25) - reorder to `baggage, xray, tracecontext`. This will be the order we follow for other ADOT SDKs too ([JS already in progress](aws-observability/aws-otel-js-instrumentation#210)). By submitting this pull request, I confirm that you can use, modify, copy, and redistribute this contribution, under the terms of your choice.
mxiamxia
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…ontext'` (aws-observability#210) *Issue #, if available:* *Description of changes:* - Update default `OTEL_PROPAGATORS` setting to be `'baggage,xray,tracecontext'` By submitting this pull request, I confirm that you can use, modify, copy, and redistribute this contribution, under the terms of your choice.
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Issue #, if available:
Description of changes:
OTEL_PROPAGATORSsetting to be'baggage,xray,tracecontext'By submitting this pull request, I confirm that you can use, modify, copy, and redistribute this contribution, under the terms of your choice.