Experimental OpenMetrics 2.0 support

[zeitlinger]

The OpenMetrics 2.0 spec is nearing completion. We should start implementing experimental support to validate the design and provide early feedback to the spec authors.

All features are behind opt-in flags (off by default) so there's no risk to existing users. The spec is still in draft, so the API is explicitly experimental and subject to change.

Status

Implemented:

• PR 1: Flag infrastructure (feat: Add OpenMetrics2 configuration support #1939) ✅
• PR 2: OM2 writer skeleton (feat: Add skeleton OpenMetrics2TextFormatWriter #1951) ✅
• PR 3: enabled flag (feat: Add OpenMetrics2 enabled flag #1953) ✅
• PR 4a: Core + OM1 writers (feat: move suffix handling to scrape time #1955) ✅
• PR 4b: OTel preserve_names (feat: add OTel preserve_names for scrape-time suffix handling #1956) ✅
• PR 4c: OM2 writer no-suffix (feat: OM2 writer outputs names as provided, no suffix appending #1957) ✅
• PR 5: content negotiation (feat: Add logic for handling content negotation flag with OM2 #1986) ✅
• PR 6: compositeValues + exemplarCompliance (feat: compositeValues and exemplarCompliance flags for OM2 writer #1991, closes OM2 - CompositeValue + start timestamp + exemplar compliance #1989) ✅
• PR 7: nativeHistograms (feat: Add OM2 native histogram text output #2042, closes OM2 - Native histograms #1990) ✅

Remaining:

• PR 8: Documentation (OM2: docs: Document OpenMetrics 2.0 preview and OTel preserve_names flag #1954)

Flag design

Top-level gate + individual feature flags. The top-level gate (enableOpenMetrics2())
sets enabled=true implicitly and enables the sub-flags. Each sub-flag
independently controls one OM2 feature.

Java builder API:

PrometheusProperties config = PrometheusProperties.builder()
 .enableOpenMetrics2(om2 -> om2
 .contentNegotiation(true) // version=2.0.0 content type
 .compositeValues(true) // single-line histogram/summary + st@
 .exemplarCompliance(true) // mandatory timestamps, no size limit
 .nativeHistograms(true) // exponential buckets
 )
 .build();

// Or enable everything at once
PrometheusProperties config = PrometheusProperties.builder()
 .enableOpenMetrics2(om2 -> om2.enableAll())
 .build();

Properties equivalent:

io.prometheus.openmetrics2.enabled=true
io.prometheus.openmetrics2.content_negotiation=true
io.prometheus.openmetrics2.composite_values=true
io.prometheus.openmetrics2.exemplar_compliance=true
io.prometheus.openmetrics2.native_histograms=true

For the minimal OM2 experience (names as provided, no suffix appending):

io.prometheus.openmetrics2.enabled=true

Flag	Description	Spec reference
enabled	Activate the OM2 writer. Required — feature flags below have no effect without it. Set implicitly by enableOpenMetrics2()	—
contentNegotiation	Gate OM2 features behind content negotiation: only apply them when the scraper requests version=2.0.0, and return OM1 format when the scraper requests OM1. Without this flag, OM2 features are applied even if the scraper requests OM1	Content Type
compositeValues	Single-line Histogram/Summary/GaugeHistogram with inline st@ start timestamp. Also: reserved label prefix __, Histogram Count/Sum always present, bucket values may be float	CompositeValue, Overall Structure
exemplarCompliance	Exemplar timestamps always emitted (MUST in OM2), 128-char LabelSet hard limit removed	Exemplar
nativeHistograms	Exponential buckets with schema, zero threshold/count, pos/neg spans	Native Buckets

All flags default to false.

Suffix handling (_total, unit suffixes) is not an OM2 config flag — it is handled
at scrape time by each format writer. See #1941 for the design.

PR structure

PR 1: Flag infrastructure (#1939) ✅
│
└── PR 2: OM2 writer skeleton (#1951) ✅
 │
 ├── PR 3: enabled flag (#1953) ✅
 │ │
 │ ├── PR 4: Suffix handling:
 │ │ ├── PR 4a: Core + OM1 writers (#1955) ✅
 │ │ │ ├── PR 4b: OTel preserve_names (#1956) ✅
 │ │ │ └── PR 4c: OM2 writer no-suffix (#1957) ✅
 │ │ │
 │ │
 │ └── PR 8: Documentation (#1954)
 │
 ├── PR 5: contentNegotiation (#1986) ✅
 │
 ├── PR 6: compositeValues + exemplarCompliance (#1991, closes #1989) ✅
 │
 └── PR 7: nativeHistograms (#2042, closes #1990) ✅

PR 1: Flag infrastructure (#1939) ✅

• Add enableOpenMetrics2() to PrometheusProperties.Builder
• Add OpenMetrics2Properties class with all flag fields (defaulting to false)
• Wire up properties parsing for io.prometheus.openmetrics2.*
• No behavioral changes — just the config plumbing

PR 2: OM2 writer skeleton (#1951) ✅

• OpenMetrics2TextFormatWriter implementing ExpositionFormatWriter
• Wired into ExpositionFormats: when OM2 is enabled, selected for OpenMetrics requests (masquerades as OM1 for testability with current Prometheus)
• Takes OpenMetrics2Properties from feat: Add OpenMetrics2 configuration support #1939 in builder

PR 3: enabled flag (#1953) ✅

• Add io.prometheus.openmetrics2.enabled as the explicit gate for OM2 writer selection
• Feature flags alone no longer activate OM2 — enabled=true is required
• enableOpenMetrics2() programmatic configurator sets enabled=true implicitly

PR 4a: Core + OM1 writers (#1955) ✅

• Move suffix handling to scrape time — OM1 smart-appends _total/_info/unit suffixes (skips if already present)
• MetricMetadata stores originalName and expositionBaseName
• Counter/Info builders no longer strip _total/_info at creation time
• Remove all reserved metric name suffixes from PrometheusNaming
• Cross-format collision detection in PrometheusRegistry
• See Move suffix handling from creation time to scrape time #1942 for design

PR 4b: OTel preserve_names (#1956) ✅

• Add preserve_names config to ExporterOpenTelemetryProperties
• Legacy path (default): strips _total + unit suffix
• preserve_names=true: passes names through exactly as the user wrote them
• Stacked on feat: move suffix handling to scrape time #1955

PR 4c: OM2 writer no-suffix (#1957) ✅

• OM2 writer uses expositionBaseName directly — no _total or unit suffix appending
• _info suffix enforced per OM2 spec (MUST)
• Stacked on feat: move suffix handling to scrape time #1955

PR 8: Documentation (#1954)

• Document OM2 preview features and configuration
• Document OTel preserve_names flag

PR 5: Content negotiation (#1986) ✅

• contentNegotiation: only return OM2 format when the scraper explicitly requests version=2.0.0. Without this flag, OM2 features are applied even if the scraper requests OM1
• Spec: Content Type

PR 6: CompositeValue + start timestamp + exemplar compliance (#1991, closes #1989) ✅

• compositeValues:
  • Histogram as single line: foo {count:17,sum:324789.3,bucket:[0.1:8,0.25:10,0.5:11,1.0:14,+Inf:17]} 1.0 st@0.5
  • Summary as single line: bar {count:17,sum:324789.3,quantile:[0.95:123.7,0.99:150.0]}
  • GaugeHistogram as single line with gcount/gsum
  • _created lines replaced by inline st@ start timestamp
  • _count, _sum, _bucket suffixed lines no longer emitted for these types
  • Reserved label prefix changed from _ to __
  • Histogram/GaugeHistogram Count and Sum always present (MUST, was SHOULD for Sum)
  • Histogram bucket values may be float (SHOULD be integer, was MUST)
  • Spec: CompositeValue, Histogram, Summary
• exemplarCompliance:
  • Exemplars without timestamps are dropped so emitted OM2 exemplars always satisfy the timestamp requirement
  • 128-char LabelSet hard limit removed

PR 7: Native histograms (#2042, closes #1990) ✅

• nativeHistograms:
  • Exponential bucket model: schema (-4 to 8), zero threshold/count, positive/negative spans and buckets
  • Text serialization: {count:X,sum:X,schema:N,zero_threshold:F,zero_count:X,positive_spans:[...],positive_buckets:[...]}
  • Can coexist with classic buckets on separate lines (native line MUST come first)
  • GaugeHistogram also supports native buckets (same syntax)
  • Multiple exemplars per native histogram sample
  • Spec: Native Buckets, Histogram
• No known blockers:
  • NHCB federation (#312) — still open but WG decided it won't change the spec (solution is a Prometheus scraping config, not an OM change)
  • Exemplar timestamps (#308) — closed, resolved as MUST. We're aligned

Next steps

1. Finish docs in OM2: docs: Document OpenMetrics 2.0 preview and OTel preserve_names flag #1954 now that the implemented OM2 surface is stable enough to describe precisely.
2. After OM2: docs: Document OpenMetrics 2.0 preview and OTel preserve_names flag #1954 lands, do one pass over Experimental OpenMetrics 2.0 support #1912 for any spec drift and then close the umbrella issue.

Notes

• UTF-8 metric/label names are already supported (shipped in a previous release)
• The OM2 spec is still draft — some details may change, but no known blockers for the features covered here
• See also: OM 2.0 upgrade guide for SDK maintainers

[zeitlinger]

@ArthurSens Question for you: with OM2 relaxing _total from MUST to SHOULD — should client SDKs also stop treating _total as a reserved suffix in validation and sanitization? i.e. stop stripping it from incoming metric names and stop rejecting it?

That would be needed for disableSuffixAppending to work correctly, and would also fix Dropwizard name collisions like #1321.