w3c/trace-context

Adopt either span-id or parent-id for section headings

pes10k opened this issue · 4 comments

pes10k commented

This issue is filed from PING review #103

This isn't a blocking / needs-resolution concern, but as best I can tell from my read, the proposal uses span-id and parent-id interchangeably, even in the document's headers. For example, 3.2.2.4 uses the term "parent-id" while all of section 10 uses "span-id". I suggest using a single name here (at least for the document's organization / headings) to make it easier for the reader.

kalyanaj commented

Thanks @pes10k for filing this issue.

Upon investigating this a bit, I see that https://github.com/w3c/trace-context/blob/main/http_header_format_rationale.md#spanparent-nomenclature describes the rationale and historical context on why the term parent-id was chosen. In general, span-id refers to the current span while parent-id refers to the parent's span-id or equivalent (in non span-based systems).

I was initially thinking that changing the term parent-id to "parent-span-id" could make things clearer, however after reading the above rationale for why the generic name "parent-id" was chosen, I am inclined to leave this terminology as is. Further, this terminology didn't change in the Level 2 of the spec, and has been part of the official Level 1 standard.

pes10k commented

okie dokie, feel free to close out this issue then

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kalyanaj commented

Closing per the above discussion.

yurishkuro commented

span-id terminology would imply a span model, which is not a requirement of the spec. The use of parent-id avoids giving an explicit name to the parent entity and could be interpreted as "parent span id" or "parent event id".

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