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 2025-04-17 UTC."],[[["This document outlines the usage of the `OpenTelemetryTracingOption` for the Google Cloud C++ client library, which enables the generation of distributed traces."],["The client library uses the global tracer provider to generate traces, requiring compilation with OpenTelemetry for this option to be effective."],["Providing this option to the `Make*Connection(...)` and `Make*Credentials(...)` factory functions enables tracing for both the client and authentication components, respectively."],["Enabling trace generation doesn't automatically export traces; users must configure a global tracer provider, like with `#google::cloud::otel::ConfigureBasicTracing()`, to export traces to a platform like Cloud Trace."],["The `GOOGLE_CLOUD_CPP_OPENTELEMETRY_TRACING` environment variable can also be set to a non-empty value to enable OpenTelemetry tracing."]]],[]]
