fix(zipkin): tolerate invalid OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT env var by RichardoMrMu · Pull Request #5704 · open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python

RichardoMrMu · 2026-09-28T17:03:15Z

Description

Both Zipkin span exporters construct their timeout with a bare int(environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT, 10)) in __init__ (opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-json and opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http). A malformed value such as OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT=10s raises ValueError: invalid literal for int() while the exporter is being built, which takes SDK/TracerProvider startup down before any telemetry can flow.

The OTLP exporters already tolerate this: the HTTP transport has _resolve_timeout() (#5389) and the gRPC transport now has _timeout_from_env() (#5448), both of which log a warning and fall back to the default. The Zipkin exporters were the remaining outlier parsing this env var with an unguarded conversion.

This change adds a private _timeout_from_env() in each Zipkin exporter that:

returns the default (10 seconds) silently when the variable is unset or empty/whitespace;
logs a warning and returns the default when the value is not an integer;
otherwise returns the parsed integer.

Precedence of an explicit timeout= constructor argument is unchanged (timeout or _timeout_from_env()).

Type of change

Bug fix (non-breaking change)

How Has This Been Tested?

Pure-Python, no collector or network needed. Added two tests to each exporter's test_zipkin_exporter.py:

test_constructor_invalid_timeout_env_var_falls_back: sets OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT=10s, asserts the exporter builds with timeout == 10 and emits a WARNING.
test_constructor_empty_timeout_env_var_falls_back: sets the variable to "", asserts timeout == 10.

Red (before the fix), run per package:

>       self.timeout = timeout or int(environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT, 10))
E       ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: '10s'
====================== 2 failed, 15 deselected ======================

Green (after the fix):

opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-json ........ 17 passed in 0.23s
opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http ... 17 passed in 0.26s

The pre-existing constructor/env/export tests in both files continue to pass, including test_constructor_all_params_and_env_vars (explicit timeout= precedence) and test_constructor_env_vars (valid numeric env value).

Verification boundary: logic-level unit tests only (constructor configuration); no export round-trip against a live Zipkin instance was exercised, consistent with the existing tests in these modules which mock requests.Session.post.

Both Zipkin exporters parsed OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT with a bare int() in __init__, so an invalid value (e.g. "10s") raised ValueError during exporter construction and took SDK startup down, unlike the OTLP HTTP/gRPC exporters which warn and fall back to the default. Add _timeout_from_env() in each exporter that skips unset/empty values silently, logs a warning for non-integer values, and falls back to the 10 second default. Explicit timeout argument precedence is unchanged. Assisted-by: Doubao

opentelemetry-pr-dashboard · 2026-09-28T17:04:58Z

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…/zipkin-timeout-env-fallback (sync to cee5f52)

Restore the original public assignment expression for ZipkinExporter.timeout and wrap it in try/except ValueError so a malformed env var logs a warning and falls back to the default instead of breaking SDK startup.

Copilot

Copilot review overview

🟡 Changes recommended

Empty and whitespace-only values incorrectly emit warnings, and tests do not verify silent fallback.

Review effort: Balanced
Findings: 4

Open (4)

Silently handle blank values before conversion · New
Test no warnings for empty and whitespace-only values · New
Silently handle blank values before conversion · New
Test no warnings for empty and whitespace-only values · New

What changed in this PR

Adds resilient Zipkin timeout environment parsing to prevent malformed values from breaking SDK startup.

Changes:

Falls back to the default timeout for invalid values.
Adds warning and fallback tests.
Adds a changelog entry.

File	Description
`.changelog/5704.fixed`	Documents the fix.
`exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-json/src/opentelemetry/exporter/zipkin/json/__init__.py`	Adds timeout fallback handling.
`exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-json/tests/test_zipkin_exporter.py`	Tests invalid and empty values.
`exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/zipkin/proto/http/__init__.py`	Adds timeout fallback handling.
`exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-zipkin-proto-http/tests/test_zipkin_exporter.py`	Tests invalid and empty values.

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+        # A malformed OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT must not break SDK startup.
+        try:
+            self.timeout = timeout or int(environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT, 10))
+        except ValueError:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Invalid value %r for %s, using default of %s seconds",
+                environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT),
+                OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT,
+                _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+            )
+            self.timeout = _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT


+        os.environ[OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT] = ""
+
+        exporter = ZipkinExporter()
+
+        self.assertEqual(exporter.timeout, 10)


+        # A malformed OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT must not break SDK startup.
+        try:
+            self.timeout = timeout or int(environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT, 10))
+        except ValueError:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Invalid value %r for %s, using default of %s seconds",
+                environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT),
+                OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT,
+                _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+            )
+            self.timeout = _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT


+        os.environ[OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT] = ""
+
+        exporter = ZipkinExporter()
+
+        self.assertEqual(exporter.timeout, 10)


Handle unset and whitespace-only timeout values before integer conversion in both Zipkin exporters. Preserve explicit timeout precedence and existing numeric parsing semantics. Add regressions for silent defaults, warning count, valid values and constructor truthiness. Assisted-by: OpenAI Codex Signed-off-by: RichardoMrMu <947676438@qq.com>

…c-symbols check griffe public-symbols-check compares the AST of instance attribute assignments against main. Route the blank-timeout fallback through a local variable instead of changing the self.timeout RHS, so the exported attribute source text stays byte-identical to main. Behavior unchanged: blank/invalid env falls back to _timeout_from_env() (default 10s), explicit timeout wins.

carlosalberto · 2026-10-08T15:45:58Z

        self.session = session or requests.Session()
        self.session.headers.update({"Content-Type": self.encoder.content_type()})
        self._closed = False
+        timeout = timeout or _timeout_from_env()


Why are you calling two times environ.get(OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT ? One here (line below) and one from timeout_from_env()?

RichardoMrMu requested a review from a team as a code owner September 28, 2026 17:03

otelbot-python Bot added this to Python PR digest Sep 28, 2026

opentelemetry-pr-dashboard Bot mentioned this pull request Sep 28, 2026

Pull Request Dashboard #5550

Open

changelog: add fragment for PR open-telemetry#5704

d5e3f76

RichardoMrMu mentioned this pull request Sep 28, 2026

fix(prometheus): tolerate invalid OTEL_EXPORTER_PROMETHEUS_PORT env var #5705

Open

1 task done

RichardoMrMu added 2 commits September 30, 2026 10:52

Merge branch 'main' from open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python into fix…

5808f47

…/zipkin-timeout-env-fallback (sync to cee5f52)

tammy-baylis-swi moved this to Ready for review in Python PR digest Oct 1, 2026

Merge branch 'main' into fix/zipkin-timeout-env-fallback

d6ef669

lzchen approved these changes Oct 1, 2026

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herin049 requested a balanced review from Copilot October 1, 2026 21:08

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of herin049 October 1, 2026 21:09 View session

herin049 approved these changes Oct 1, 2026

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Copilot AI reviewed Oct 1, 2026

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RichardoMrMu added 2 commits October 2, 2026 22:30

carlosalberto reviewed Oct 8, 2026

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fix(zipkin): tolerate invalid OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT env var - #5704

fix(zipkin): tolerate invalid OTEL_EXPORTER_ZIPKIN_TIMEOUT env var#5704
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RichardoMrMu commented Sep 28, 2026

Description

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