feat(om2): clarify Timestamp and Start Timestamp semantics#2929
Open
feat(om2): clarify Timestamp and Start Timestamp semantics#2929
Conversation
- Add paragraph to Timestamps section distinguishing explicit Timestamp from Start Timestamp and clarifying naming conventions - Expand Sample section to explain what Timestamp and Start Timestamp represent, and how Start Timestamp helps detect counter resets - Remove redundant Start Timestamp explanations from Counter and Histogram sections since they are now covered in Sample - Fix "timestamp of the reset" -> "approximate reset time" in Counter Signed-off-by: György Krajcsovits <gyorgy.krajcsovits@grafana.com> Coded with Claude Sonnet 4.6.
- "specifies" -> "SHOULD specify" to allow edge cases where exact measurement start is not known - "is equivalent to" -> "MUST be treated as equivalent to" to make zero Start Timestamp handling a normative requirement on ingestors Signed-off-by: György Krajcsovits <gyorgy.krajcsovits@grafana.com> Coded with Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Align with Counter and Histogram sections by using "SHOULD have a Start Timestamp" consistently. Signed-off-by: György Krajcsovits <gyorgy.krajcsovits@grafana.com> Coded with Claude Sonnet 4.6.
vpranckaitis
approved these changes
Mar 26, 2026
dashpole
approved these changes
Mar 28, 2026
| A Sample is a single data point within a Metric. It MUST have a Value, MAY have a Timestamp. It MAY include Exemplars and MAY have a start timestamp, depending on the MetricFamily Type. | ||
| A Sample is a single data point within a Metric. It MUST have a Value, MAY have a Timestamp. It MAY include Exemplars and MAY have a Start Timestamp, depending on the MetricFamily Type. | ||
|
|
||
| Samples SHOULD NOT have Timestamps. If present, a Sample's Timestamp specifies when the value was observed. |
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Suggested change
| Samples SHOULD NOT have Timestamps. If present, a Sample's Timestamp specifies when the value was observed. | |
| Samples SHOULD NOT have Timestamps. See [Exposing Timestamps](#exposing-timestamps) for why this is not recommended. If present, a Sample's Timestamp specifies when the value was observed. |
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
3 participants
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Summary
Test plan
Signed-off-by: György Krajcsovits gyorgy.krajcsovits@grafana.com
🤖 Coded with Claude Sonnet 4.6. Generated with Claude Code