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Revisit enum attribute value stability #3847

@lmolkova

Description

@lmolkova

Per current spec enums can change in any possible way:

Things not listed in the above are not expected to remain stable via semantic
convention and are allowed (or expected) to change. A few examples:
- The values of attributes
- Specifically for `enums` the list of allowed values is expected to change
overtime.
- Even for `enums` that limit allowed values to semconv, some may need to
updated values in the future. Tooling should expect unknown values.
- The links attached to a span

this creates a problem for instrumentation libraries and semconv artifacts: if existing value is renamed, it causes breaking changes on the API surface or binary-incompatibility and runtime breaking changes.

Proposal:

  • guarantee stability of existing enum values
  • allow list to grow

Related: open-telemetry/semantic-conventions#670

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[label deprecated] triaged-accepted[label deprecated] Issue triaged and accepted by OTel community, can proceed with creating a PRspec:miscellaneousFor issues that don't match any other spec label

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