This program generates a custom OpenTelemetry Collector binary based on a given configuration.

$ GO111MODULE=on go install go.opentelemetry.io/collector/cmd/builder@latest
$ cat > ~/.otelcol-builder.yaml <<EOF
exporters:
  - gomod: "github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/alibabacloudlogserviceexporter v0.40.0"
  - import: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/exporter/loggingexporter
    gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector v0.40.0

receivers:
  - import: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/receiver/otlpreceiver
    gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector v0.40.0

processors:
  - import: go.opentelemetry.io/collector/processor/batchprocessor
    gomod: go.opentelemetry.io/collector v0.40.0
EOF
$ builder --output-path=/tmp/dist
$ cat > /tmp/otelcol.yaml <<EOF
receivers:
  otlp:
    protocols:
      grpc:
        endpoint: localhost:4317

processors:
  batch:

exporters:
  logging:

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers:
      - otlp
      processors:
      - batch
      exporters:
      - logging
EOF
$ /tmp/dist/otelcol-custom --config=/tmp/otelcol.yaml

Download the binary for your respective platform under the "Releases" page.

A configuration file isn't strictly required, but the final artifact won't be different than a regular OpenTelemetry Collector. You probably want to specify at least one module (extension, exporter, receiver, processor) to add to your distribution. You can specify them via a configuration file. When no --config flag is provided with the location for the configuration file, ${HOME}/.otelcol-builder.yaml will be used, if available.

$ builder --config config.yaml

Use builder --help to learn about which flags are available.

The configuration file is composed of two main parts: dist and module types. All dist options can be specified via command line flags:

$ builder --name="my-otelcol"

The module types are specified at the top-level, and might be: extensions, exporters, receivers and processors. They all accept a list of components, and each component is required to have at least the gomod entry. When not specified, the import value is inferred from the gomod. When not specified, the name is inferred from the import.

The import might specify a more specific path than what is specified in the gomod. For instance, your Go module might be gitlab.com/myorg/myrepo and the import might be gitlab.com/myorg/myrepo/myexporter.

The name will typically be omitted, except when multiple components have the same name. In such case, set a unique name for each module.

Optionally, a list of go mod replace entries can be provided, in case custom overrides are needed. This is typically necessary when a processor or some of its transitive dependencies have dependency problems.

dist:
    module: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector # the module name for the new distribution, following Go mod conventions. Optional, but recommended.
    name: otelcol-custom # the binary name. Optional.
    description: "Custom OpenTelemetry Collector distribution" # a long name for the application. Optional.
    otelcol_version: "0.40.0" # the OpenTelemetry Collector version to use as base for the distribution. Optional.
    output_path: /tmp/otelcol-distributionNNN # the path to write the output (sources and binary). Optional.
    version: "1.0.0" # the version for your custom OpenTelemetry Collector. Optional.
    go: "/usr/bin/go" # which Go binary to use to compile the generated sources. Optional.
exporters:
  - gomod: "github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/alibabacloudlogserviceexporter v0.40.0" # the Go module for the component. Required.
    import: "github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/alibabacloudlogserviceexporter" # the import path for the component. Optional.
    name: "alibabacloudlogserviceexporter" # package name to use in the generated sources. Optional.
    path: "./alibabacloudlogserviceexporter" # in case a local version should be used for the module, the path relative to the current dir, or a full path can be specified. Optional.
replaces:
  # a list of "replaces" directives that will be part of the resulting go.mod
  - github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/internal/common => github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/internal/common v0.40.0