Setting this option enables the generation of traces by the client library. The library uses the global tracer provider to generate traces.
To create a client that traces, this option must be provided to the Make*Connection(...) factory functions. It does not have an effect when passed to a client's constructor. If you use custom credentials, this option must also be provided to the Make*Credentials(...) factory functions in order to trace the authentication components.
Exporting traces
Providing this option only enables the generation of traces. It does not enable the export of traces.
In order to export the traces, the application must set the global tracer provider. The client library recommends using #google::cloud::otel::ConfigureBasicTracing() to configure the global tracer provider. This will send the traces generated by the client library to Cloud Trace, Google Cloud's visualizer for distributed traces.
This option is controlled by the GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_OPENTELEMETRY_TRACING environment variable. If the environment variable is set to a non-empty value, tracing with OpenTelemetry is enabled.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-03-14 UTC."],[[["This document outlines how to enable and use OpenTelemetry tracing within the Google Cloud C++ client library, detailing its functionality and requirements."],["The latest release candidate for the OpenTelemetry Tracing Option is version 2.37.0-rc, with a historical list of previous versions also available for reference."],["To utilize this feature, the library must be compiled with OpenTelemetry support, and enabling this option allows the client library to generate traces through the global tracer provider."],["Setting the `GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_OPENTELEMETRY_TRACING` environment variable to a non-empty value also enables tracing with OpenTelemetry."],["While enabling this option allows for trace generation, the actual export of traces requires setting the global tracer provider, with the recommended method being `#google::cloud::otel::ConfigureBasicTracing()`, to utilize Cloud Trace."]]],[]]
