[DOC] Document minimum required versions

[markus456]

The libraries that opentelemetry-cpp requires have minimum required versions which are higher than the ones that are natively available on the systems being tested. By listing the exact versions of the libraries, the dependencies are clearly stated which removes the guesswork from build problems.

This contribution is submitted by me as an individual.

Fixes #3560

Changes

Please provide a brief description of the changes here.

For significant contributions please make sure you have completed the following items:

• CHANGELOG.md updated for non-trivial changes
• Unit tests have been added
• Changes in public API reviewed

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 90.03%. Comparing base (ba38077) to head (f61493d).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

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##             main    #3562   +/-   ##
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  Coverage   90.03%   90.03%           
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  Files         220      220           
  Lines        7069     7069           
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  Hits         6364     6364           
  Misses        705      705           

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[dbarker]

Thanks for the PR @markus456! The changes generally look good. Just a few CI failures on the third_party_minimum file link in the DocFX check and some markdown-lint errors. Please address them and I'll approve.

[dbarker]

LGTM. Thanks for the PR!

[lalitb]

It would’ve been sufficient to just reference third_party_minimum. Maintaining version numbers in multiple places can lead to inconsistencies and is harder to keep in sync.

[markus456]

That was what I initially was planning on doing but given that there are not that many external dependencies and that they appear to not change super frequently, I figured it'd be nicer for the end-user to just directly see it from the markdown document. If it's too much, it can of course be removed.

[marcalff]

It would’ve been sufficient to just reference third_party_minimum. Maintaining version numbers in multiple places can lead to inconsistencies and is harder to keep in sync.

This also helps ease of use, even if this means a (little) more maintenance on changes.

Having to follow a trail of bread crumbs just to figure out what is needed to start with opentelemetry-cpp increases the barrier of entry, and the cost of taking the wrong path (build failures as reported) right from the start can be a show stopper preventing adoption.

It is a tradeoff with maintenance, but has merits too.

[marcalff]

LGTM, thanks for the doc.

[lalitb]

Having to follow a trail of bread crumbs just to figure out what is needed to start with opentelemetry-cpp increases the barrier of entry, and the cost of taking the wrong path (build failures as reported) right from the start can be a show stopper preventing adoption.

What if we keep the single source but make the path more obvious? Like adding a clear callout in INSTALL.md, something like "Quick Start Prerequisites". Or maybe auto-generate this information from canonical source.

Anyway, nothing against this PR - it's already merged and addresses a real user pain point. Just something to think about for future cases like this. For now, hopefully we can keep both places updated when versions change.