Add shutdown method to samplers #5713

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1. tammy-baylis-swi

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   feature-request

   on Sep 29, 2026
2. tammy-baylis-swi

   added the

   Feature

   issue type on Sep 29, 2026
3. Mayukhga83 commented on Oct 3, 2026

   

   Mayukhga83

   on Oct 3, 2026

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   I’d be interested in taking on the core Python SDK portion of this.

   My current thought is to add a default no-op shutdown() method to Sampler. That should keep this backward-compatible with existing custom sampler subclasses. They wouldn’t need to implement anything unless they actually have shutdown work to perform.

   Then, TracerProvider.shutdown() could invoke the sampler’s shutdown() as part of its normal shutdown path.

   A few details I’d like to clarify before implementing:

   • Is there a preferred shutdown ordering between the sampler and the span processors/exporters?
   • How should exceptions from Sampler.shutdown() be handled? Propagate them, suppress/log them, or follow the behavior of the other shutdown components?
   • Should shutdown() be expected to be idempotent, and should the SDK provide any protection around repeated calls?

   For the AWS X-Ray sampler specifically, I’m assuming the corresponding implementation change would be better handled separately in the contrib repository rather than bundled into the SDK PR. Does that match the intended split?

   If so, I’ll add focused unit tests around the sampler shutdown behavior and keep the PR narrowly scoped to the core SDK change.
4. hectorhdzg commented on Oct 5, 2026

   

   hectorhdzg

   on Oct 5, 2026

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   The no-op default makes sense so existing samplers don't break. Should wrapper samplers like ParentBased also shut down the samplers they wrap? It would be good to test normal shutdown, shutdown when the process exits, and calling shutdown more than once
5. Mayukhga83 commented on Oct 5, 2026

   

   Mayukhga83

   on Oct 5, 2026

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   Thanks for the guidance. I’ve opened #5747 with the core SDK implementation.

   The PR adds a backward-compatible no-op Sampler.shutdown() and calls it from TracerProvider.shutdown() after the span processors have been shut down.

   Wrapper samplers forward the lifecycle call:

   • ParentBased shuts down each distinct directly wrapped sampler once.
   • AlwaysRecordSampler shuts down its wrapped root sampler.

   TracerProvider.shutdown() is idempotent, so an explicit shutdown followed by the process-exit handler does not shut the components down twice.

   The tests cover normal shutdown, automatic shutdown at process exit, repeated calls, wrapper propagation, shutdown ordering, and exception paths. Existing custom samplers without a shutdown() override remain compatible.

   The AWS X-Ray sampler change will be handled separately in the contrib repository.