CMake and Bazel are the official build systems for opentelemetry-cpp.
You can link OpenTelemetry C++ SDK with libraries provided in dependencies.md (complete list of libraries with versions used in our CI can be found here).
The opentelemetry-cpp OTLP exporters depend on Protobuf and gRPC (in the case of the otlp grpc exporters). Protobuf (since version 3.22.0) and gRPC depend on Abseil. For cmake builds, it is best practice to build and install Abseil , Protobuf, and gPRC as independent packages - configuring cmake for Protobuf and gRPC to build against the installed packages instead of using their submodule option.
If building and installing Protobuf and gRPC manually with cmake the recommended approach is:
protobuf_ABSL_PROVIDER=package)gRPC_ABSL_PROVIDER=package and gRPC_PROTOBUF_PROVIDER=package)Getting the opentelemetry-cpp source with its submodules:
# Change to the directory where you want to create the code repository
$ cd ~
$ mkdir source && cd source && git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp
Cloning into 'opentelemetry-cpp'...
...
Resolving deltas: 100% (3225/3225), done.
$
Navigate to the repository cloned above, and create the CMake build
configuration.
$ cd opentelemetry-cpp
$ mkdir build && cd build && cmake ..
-- The C compiler identification is GNU 9.3.0
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 9.3.0
...
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/<user>/source/opentelemetry-cpp/build
$
Some of the available cmake build variables we can use during cmake configuration:
-DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON : Please note that with default
configuration, the code is compiled without -fpic option, so it is not
suitable for inclusion in shared libraries. To enable the code for
inclusion in shared libraries, this variable is used.-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON : To build shared libraries for the targets.
Please refer to note below for
Windows DLL support.-DWITH_OTLP_GRPC=ON : To enable building OTLP GRPC exporter.-DWITH_OTLP_HTTP=ON : To enable building OTLP HTTP exporter.-DWITH_PROMETHEUS=ON : To enable building prometheus exporter.-DOPENTELEMETRY_INSTALL=ON: To install otel-cpp library needed
for external code linking.Once the build configuration is created, build the CMake targets - this includes building SDKs and unittests for API and SDK. Note that since API is header only library, no separate build is triggered for it.
$ cmake --build . --target all
Scanning dependencies of target timestamp_test
[ 0%] Building CXX object api/test/core/CMakeFiles/timestamp_test.dir/timestamp_test.cc.o
[ 1%] Linking CXX executable timestamp_test
...
Scanning dependencies of target w3c_tracecontext_test
[ 99%] Building CXX object ext/test/w3c_tracecontext_test/CMakeFiles/w3c_tracecontext_test.dir/main.cc.o
[100%] Linking CXX executable w3c_tracecontext_test
[100%] Built target w3c_tracecontext_test
$
Once CMake tests are built, run them with ctest command
$ ctest
Test project /tmp/opentelemetry-cpp/build
Start 1: trace.SystemTimestampTest.Construction
...
Start 380: ext.http.urlparser.UrlParserTests.BasicTests
...
100% tests passed, 0 tests failed out of 380
$
Optionally install the header files for API, and generated targets and header files for SDK at custom/default install location.
$ cmake --install . --prefix /<install-root>/
-- Installing: /<install-root>/lib/cmake/opentelemetry-cpp/opentelemetry-cpp-config.cmake
-- Installing: /<install-root>/lib/cmake/opentelemetry-cpp/opentelemetry-cpp-config-version.cmake
...
$
There are two approaches to incoporate opentelemetry-cpp into
an external CMake project:
Build and install opentelemetry-cpp then use find_package
to import its targets
# Find all installed components and link all imported targets
find_package(opentelemetry-cpp CONFIG REQUIRED)
...
target_include_directories(foo PRIVATE ${OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_INCLUDE_DIRS})
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE ${OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_LIBRARIES})
# Find a specific component and link its imported target(s)
find_package(opentelemetry-cpp CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS api)
...
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE opentelemetry-cpp::api)
Use CMake's FetchContent
module to fetch and build opentelemetry-cpp then make its targets available
# Fetch from an existing clone and build
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(opentelemetry-cpp SOURCE_DIR "<path/to/opentelemetry-cpp>")
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(opentelemetry-cpp)
...
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE opentelemetry-cpp::api)
# Clone and build opentelemetry-cpp from a git tag
include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
opentelemetry-cpp
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp.git
GIT_TAG v1.20.0)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(opentelemetry-cpp)
...
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE opentelemetry-cpp::api)
In both cases the project's built or imported CMake targets will be
available in the opentelemetry-cpp namespace (ie: opentelemetry-cpp::api)
Note:
opentelemetry-cppCMake package components were introduced inv1.21.0
The opentelemetry-cpp package supports using the COMPONENTS argument to
find_package. The following example illustrates using this feature to include
and link the api header only target to an instrumented foo_lib while only including
and linking the sdk and otlp_grpc_exporter targets to the foo_app.
# foo_lib/CMakeLists.txt
find_package(opentelemetry-cpp CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS api)
add_library(foo_lib foo.cpp)
target_link_libraries(foo_lib PRIVATE opentelemetry-cpp::api)
# foo_app/CMakeLists.txt
find_package(opentelemetry-cpp CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS api sdk exporters_otlp_grpc)
add_executable(foo_app main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(foo_app PRIVATE foo_lib opentelemetry-cpp::api opentelemetry-cpp::trace opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_grpc_exporter )
The following table provides the mapping between components and targets. Components and targets available in the installation depends on the opentelemetry-cpp package build configuration.
Note: components
exporters_elasticsearchandexporters_etwmay be moved out of the core package and toopentelemetry-cpp-contribin a future release
| Component | Targets |
|---|---|
| api | opentelemetry-cpp::api |
| sdk | opentelemetry-cpp::sdk |
| opentelemetry-cpp::version | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::common | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::resources | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::trace | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::metrics | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::logs | |
| ext_common | opentelemetry-cpp::ext |
| ext_http_curl | opentelemetry-cpp::http_client_curl |
| ext_dll | opentelemetry-cpp::opentelemetry_cpp |
| exporters_in_memory | opentelemetry-cpp::in_memory_span_exporter |
| opentelemetry-cpp::in_memory_metric_exporter | |
| exporters_ostream | opentelemetry-cpp::ostream_log_record_exporter |
| opentelemetry-cpp::ostream_metrics_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::ostream_span_exporter | |
| exporters_otlp_common | opentelemetry-cpp::proto |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_recordable | |
| exporters_otlp_file | opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_file_client |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_file_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_file_log_record_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_file_metric_exporter | |
| exporters_otlp_grpc | opentelemetry-cpp::proto_grpc |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_grpc_client | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_grpc_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_grpc_log_record_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_grpc_metrics_exporter | |
| exporters_otlp_http | opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_http_client |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_http_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_http_log_record_exporter | |
| opentelemetry-cpp::otlp_http_metric_exporter | |
| exporters_prometheus | opentelemetry-cpp::prometheus_exporter |
| exporters_elasticsearch | opentelemetry-cpp::elasticsearch_log_record_exporter |
| exporters_etw | opentelemetry-cpp::etw_exporter |
| exporters_zipkin | opentelemetry-cpp::zipkin_trace_exporter |
| shims_opentracing | opentelemetry-cpp::opentracing_shim |
NOTE: Experimental, and not supported for all the components. Make sure the GoogleTest installation may fail if there is a different version of googletest already installed in system-defined path.
To install Bazel, consult the Installing Bazel guide.
Getting the opentelemetry-cpp source:
# Change to the directory where you want to create the code repository
$ cd ~
$ mkdir source && cd source
$ git clone https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp
Cloning into 'opentelemetry-cpp'...
...
Resolving deltas: 100% (3225/3225), done.
$
Navigate to the repository cloned above, download the dependencies and build the source code:
$ cd opentelemetry-cpp
$ bazel build //...
bazel build -- //... -//exporters/otlp/... -//exporters/prometheus/...
Extracting Bazel installation...
Starting local Bazel server and connecting to it...
INFO: Analyzed 121 targets (98 packages loaded, 3815 targets configured).
INFO: Found 121 targets...
INFO: From Compiling sdk/src/trace/tracer_context.cc:
...
Once Bazel tests are built, run them with bazel test //... command
$ bazel test //...
..
$
The build artifacts will be located under bazel-bin
WORKSPACE file:
http_archive(
name = "io_opentelemetry_cpp",
sha256 = "<sha256>",
strip_prefix = "opentelemetry-cpp-1.0.1",
urls = [
"https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-cpp/archive/refs/tags/v1.0.1.tar.gz"
],
)
# Load OpenTelemetry dependencies after load.
load("@io_opentelemetry_cpp//bazel:repository.bzl", "opentelemetry_cpp_deps")
opentelemetry_cpp_deps()
# (required after v1.8.0) Load extra dependencies required for OpenTelemetry
load("@io_opentelemetry_cpp//bazel:extra_deps.bzl", "opentelemetry_extra_deps")
opentelemetry_extra_deps()
# Load gRPC dependencies after load.
load("@com_github_grpc_grpc//bazel:grpc_deps.bzl", "grpc_deps")
grpc_deps()
# Load extra gRPC dependencies due to https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/20511
load("@com_github_grpc_grpc//bazel:grpc_extra_deps.bzl", "grpc_extra_deps")
grpc_extra_deps()
Component level BUILD file:
cc_library(
name = "<name>"
...
deps = [
"@io_opentelemetry_cpp//api",
"@io_opentelemetry_cpp//exporters/otlp:otlp_exporter",
"@io_opentelemetry_cpp//sdk/src/trace",
...
],
...
)
Windows DLL build is supported under preview. Please check the doc for more details.
OpenTelemetry C++ supports generating platform specific binary packages from CMake configuration. The packages generated through this mayn't be production ready, and user may have to customize it further before using it as distribution.
This requires platform specific package generators already installed. The package generation can subsequently be enabled by using BUILD_PACKAGE option during cmake configuration
$ cd opentelemetry-cpp
$ mkdir build && cd build && cmake -DBUILD_PACKAGE=ON ..
-- Package name: opentelemetry-cpp-1.8.1-ubuntu-20.04-x86_64.deb
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
...
$
Once build is complete as specified in standalone build section, the package can be generated as below.
$ cpack -C debug
CPack: Create package using DEB
...
CPack: - package: /home/<user>/opentelemetry-cpp/build/opentelemetry-cpp-1.8.1-ubuntu-20.04-x86_64.deb generated.
$
If you are using Conan to manage your dependencies, add
opentelemetry-cpp/x.y.z to your
conanfile's requires, where x.y.z is the release version you want to use.
Please file issues here
if you experience problems with the packages.
If you are using vcpkg on your project
for external dependencies, then you can install the opentelemetry-cpp
package
with vcpkg install opentelemetry-cpp and follow the then displayed
descriptions. Please see the vcpkg project for any issues regarding the
packaging.
If you are using alpine linux you can install
the opentelemetry-cpp packages
with apk add -X http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing opentelemetry-cpp-dev.
Please note, these packages are not officially provided and maintained by OpenTelemetry C++ project, and are just listed here to consolidate all such efforts for ease of developers.