prometheus / prometheus/client_rust

Counter API is overly restrictive

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#108 3 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
Rust
Stars
606
Forks
113
Avg merge
9h 7m
Merged PRs (30d)
8

Description

Currently Counter's API is:
https://github.com/prometheus/client_rust/blob/master/src/metrics/counter.rs#L76-L83

    /// Increase the [`Counter`] by 1, returning the previous value.
    pub fn inc(&self) -> N {
        self.value.inc()
    }

    /// Increase the [`Counter`] by `v`, returning the previous value.
    pub fn inc_by(&self, v: N) -> N {
        self.value.inc_by(v)
    }

which requires inc and inc_by to return the previous value. This is rarely needed for metric collecting use-case, and it hinders the ability to use per-thread thread-local accumulator to prevent contention (like this) and increase performance.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing src/metrics/counter.rs at lines 76-83 and the linked hytra::TrAdder design. Determine the intended Counter increment API and how its return-value requirement affects thread-local accumulation and contention. Done should include an agreed API shape and coverage for the changed increment behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
observability-sre
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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