Clarity on OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY usage / meaning

[JDUNNIN]

I've been trying to understand the usage of OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY from reading the documentation here which describes it as:

Delay interval (in milliseconds) between two consecutive exports

Also looking at the BatchSpanProcessor.java code in conjunction.

From the text alone I'm not clear on the expected behaviour.

One option is that when an export takes place, the BatchSpanProcessor would then wait OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY time, before then exporting the next batch. If that is correct at all, is an "export" considered as the whole queue size divided into OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE chunks (+ the remainder) all being sent in separate requests?

I suppose part of my question is about understanding exactly what an "export" consists of i.e. Is it sending one batch of spans or sending all the queued spans in chunks of OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE?

The alternative is that each OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE chunk of spans is sent as soon as that many spans are available and that OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY is actually a max wait time between exports, for the rare case that the queue size is smaller than OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE at the end of OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY.

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated thanks!

[trask]

The alternative is that each OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE chunk of spans is sent as soon as that many spans are available and that OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY is actually a max wait time between exports, for the rare case that the queue size is smaller than OTEL_BSP_MAX_EXPORT_BATCH_SIZE at the end of OTEL_BSP_SCHEDULE_DELAY.

this is correct

[breedx-splk]

Agree with @trask that your assessment is correct. Please feel free to reopen if you have more questions or would like to discuss further.

[JDUNNIN]

Thank you for confirming behaviour 👍