Revert "Exemplar support (#5982)"

This reverts commit 5a3abfa041.

Reason for revert: exemplars aren't in wide use because they have numerous issues which prevent their adoption (see below).
Adding support for examplars into VictoriaMetrics introduces non-trivial code changes. These code changes need to be supported forever
once the release of VictoriaMetrics with exemplar support is published. That's why I don't think this is a good feature despite
that the source code of the reverted commit has an excellent quality. See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/goals/ .

Issues with Prometheus exemplars:

- Prometheus still has only experimental support for exemplars after more than three years since they were introduced.
  It stores exemplars in memory, so they are lost after Prometheus restart. This doesn't look like production-ready feature.
  See 0a2f3b3794/content/docs/instrumenting/exposition_formats.md (L153-L159)
  and https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/feature_flags/#exemplars-storage

- It is very non-trivial to expose exemplars alongside metrics in your application, since the official Prometheus SDKs
  for metrics' exposition ( https://prometheus.io/docs/instrumenting/clientlibs/ ) either have very hard-to-use API
  for exposing histograms or do not have this API at all. For example, try figuring out how to expose exemplars
  via https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/prometheus/client_golang@v1.19.1/prometheus .

- It looks like exemplars are supported for Histogram metric types only -
  see https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/prometheus/client_golang@v1.19.1/prometheus#Timer.ObserveDurationWithExemplar .
  Exemplars aren't supported for Counter, Gauge and Summary metric types.

- Grafana has very poor support for Prometheus exemplars. It looks like it supports exemplars only when the query
  contains histogram_quantile() function. It queries exemplars via special Prometheus API -
  https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/querying/api/#querying-exemplars - (which is still marked as experimental, btw.)
  and then displays all the returned exemplars on the graph as special dots. The issue is that this doesn't work
  in production in most cases when the histogram_quantile() is calculated over thousands of histogram buckets
  exposed by big number of application instances. Every histogram bucket may expose an exemplar on every timestamp shown on the graph.
  This makes the graph unusable, since it is litterally filled with thousands of exemplar dots.
  Neither Prometheus API nor Grafana doesn't provide the ability to filter out unneeded exemplars.

- Exemplars are usually connected to traces. While traces are good for some

I doubt exemplars will become production-ready in the near future because of the issues outlined above.

Alternative to exemplars:

Exemplars are marketed as a silver bullet for the correlation between metrics, traces and logs -
just click the exemplar dot on some graph in Grafana and instantly see the corresponding trace or log entry!
This doesn't work as expected in production as shown above. Are there better solutions, which work in production?
Yes - just use time-based and label-based correlation between metrics, traces and logs. Assign the same `job`
and `instance` labels to metrics, logs and traces, so you can quickly find the needed trace or log entry
by these labes on the time range with the anomaly on metrics' graph.

Updates https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/5982

app/vmagent/remotewrite/pendingseries.go

@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@ type writeRequest struct {
 	tss     []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries
 	labels  []prompbmarshal.Label
 	samples []prompbmarshal.Sample
-	exemplars []prompbmarshal.Exemplar
 
 	// buf holds labels data
 	buf []byte
@@ -130,7 +129,6 @@ func (wr *writeRequest) reset() {
 	wr.labels = wr.labels[:0]
 
 	wr.samples = wr.samples[:0]
-	wr.exemplars = wr.exemplars[:0]
 	wr.buf = wr.buf[:0]
 }
 
@@ -202,7 +200,6 @@ func (wr *writeRequest) copyTimeSeries(dst, src *prompbmarshal.TimeSeries) {
 	labelsDst := wr.labels
 	labelsLen := len(wr.labels)
 	samplesDst := wr.samples
-	exemplarsDst := wr.exemplars
 	buf := wr.buf
 	for i := range src.Labels {
 		labelsDst = append(labelsDst, prompbmarshal.Label{})
@@ -219,12 +216,8 @@ func (wr *writeRequest) copyTimeSeries(dst, src *prompbmarshal.TimeSeries) {
 	samplesDst = append(samplesDst, src.Samples...)
 	dst.Samples = samplesDst[len(samplesDst)-len(src.Samples):]
 
-	exemplarsDst = append(exemplarsDst, src.Exemplars...)
-	dst.Exemplars = exemplarsDst[len(exemplarsDst)-len(src.Exemplars):]
-
 	wr.samples = samplesDst
 	wr.labels = labelsDst
-	wr.exemplars = exemplarsDst
 	wr.buf = buf
 }
 
@@ -236,6 +229,7 @@ func tryPushWriteRequest(wr *prompbmarshal.WriteRequest, tryPushBlock func(block
 		// Nothing to push
 		return true
 	}
+
 	marshalConcurrencyCh <- struct{}{}
 
 	bb := writeRequestBufPool.Get()
@@ -272,8 +266,6 @@ func tryPushWriteRequest(wr *prompbmarshal.WriteRequest, tryPushBlock func(block
 	if len(wr.Timeseries) == 1 {
 		// A single time series left. Recursively split its samples into smaller parts if possible.
 		samples := wr.Timeseries[0].Samples
-		exemplars := wr.Timeseries[0].Exemplars
-
 		if len(samples) == 1 {
 			logger.Warnf("dropping a sample for metric with too long labels exceeding -remoteWrite.maxBlockSize=%d bytes", maxUnpackedBlockSize.N)
 			return true
@@ -285,16 +277,11 @@ func tryPushWriteRequest(wr *prompbmarshal.WriteRequest, tryPushBlock func(block
 			return false
 		}
 		wr.Timeseries[0].Samples = samples[n:]
-		// We do not want to send exemplars twice
-		wr.Timeseries[0].Exemplars = nil
-
 		if !tryPushWriteRequest(wr, tryPushBlock, isVMRemoteWrite) {
 			wr.Timeseries[0].Samples = samples
-			wr.Timeseries[0].Exemplars = exemplars
 			return false
 		}
 		wr.Timeseries[0].Samples = samples
-		wr.Timeseries[0].Exemplars = exemplars
 		return true
 	}
 	timeseries := wr.Timeseries

app/vmagent/remotewrite/pendingseries_test.go

@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ import (
 
 func TestPushWriteRequest(t *testing.T) {
 	rowsCounts := []int{1, 10, 100, 1e3, 1e4}
-	expectedBlockLensProm := []int{248, 1952, 17433, 180381, 1861994}
+	expectedBlockLensProm := []int{216, 1848, 16424, 169882, 1757876}
-	expectedBlockLensVM := []int{170, 575, 4748, 44936, 367096}
+	expectedBlockLensVM := []int{138, 492, 3927, 34995, 288476}
 	for i, rowsCount := range rowsCounts {
 		expectedBlockLenProm := expectedBlockLensProm[i]
 		expectedBlockLenVM := expectedBlockLensVM[i]
@@ -59,20 +59,6 @@ func newTestWriteRequest(seriesCount, labelsCount int) *prompbmarshal.WriteReque
 				Value: fmt.Sprintf("value_%d_%d", i, j),
 			})
 		}
-		exemplar := prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-			Labels: []prompbmarshal.Label{
-				{
-					Name:  "trace_id",
-					Value: "123456",
-				},
-				{
-					Name:  "log_id",
-					Value: "987654",
-				},
-			},
-			Value:     float64(i),
-			Timestamp: 1000 * int64(i),
-		}
 		wr.Timeseries = append(wr.Timeseries, prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
 			Labels: labels,
 			Samples: []prompbmarshal.Sample{
@@ -81,10 +67,6 @@ func newTestWriteRequest(seriesCount, labelsCount int) *prompbmarshal.WriteReque
 					Timestamp: 1000 * int64(i),
 				},
 			},
-
-			Exemplars: []prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-				exemplar,
-			},
 		})
 	}
 	return &wr

lib/prompb/prompb.go

@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@ import (
 type WriteRequest struct {
 	// Timeseries is a list of time series in the given WriteRequest
 	Timeseries []TimeSeries
+
 	labelsPool  []Label
-	exemplarLabelsPool []Label
 	samplesPool []Sample
-	exemplarsPool      []Exemplar
 }
 
 // Reset resets wr for subsequent re-use.
@@ -30,33 +29,11 @@ func (wr *WriteRequest) Reset() {
 	}
 	wr.labelsPool = labelsPool[:0]
 
-	exemplarLabelsPool := wr.exemplarLabelsPool
-	for i := range exemplarLabelsPool {
-		exemplarLabelsPool[i] = Label{}
-	}
-	wr.labelsPool = labelsPool[:0]
 	samplesPool := wr.samplesPool
 	for i := range samplesPool {
 		samplesPool[i] = Sample{}
 	}
 	wr.samplesPool = samplesPool[:0]
-	exemplarsPool := wr.exemplarsPool
-	for i := range exemplarsPool {
-		exemplarsPool[i] = Exemplar{}
-	}
-	wr.exemplarsPool = exemplarsPool[:0]
-}
-
-// Exemplar is an exemplar
-type Exemplar struct {
-	// Labels a list of labels that uniquely identifies exemplar
-	// Optional, can be empty.
-	Labels []Label
-	// Value: the value of the exemplar
-	Value float64
-	// timestamp is in ms format, see model/timestamp/timestamp.go for
-	// conversion from time.Time to Prometheus timestamp.
-	Timestamp int64
 }
 
 // TimeSeries is a timeseries.
@@ -66,7 +43,6 @@ type TimeSeries struct {
 
 	// Samples is a list of samples for the given TimeSeries
 	Samples []Sample
-	Exemplars []Exemplar
 }
 
 // Sample is a timeseries sample.
@@ -98,10 +74,7 @@ func (wr *WriteRequest) UnmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 	// }
 	tss := wr.Timeseries
 	labelsPool := wr.labelsPool
-	exemplarLabelsPool := wr.exemplarLabelsPool
 	samplesPool := wr.samplesPool
-	exemplarsPool := wr.exemplarsPool
-
 	var fc easyproto.FieldContext
 	for len(src) > 0 {
 		src, err = fc.NextField(src)
@@ -120,7 +93,7 @@ func (wr *WriteRequest) UnmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 				tss = append(tss, TimeSeries{})
 			}
 			ts := &tss[len(tss)-1]
-			labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, err = ts.unmarshalProtobuf(data, labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool)
+			labelsPool, samplesPool, err = ts.unmarshalProtobuf(data, labelsPool, samplesPool)
 			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal timeseries: %w", err)
 			}
@@ -129,31 +102,28 @@ func (wr *WriteRequest) UnmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 	wr.Timeseries = tss
 	wr.labelsPool = labelsPool
 	wr.samplesPool = samplesPool
-	wr.exemplarsPool = exemplarsPool
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (ts *TimeSeries) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte, labelsPool []Label, exemplarLabelsPool []Label, samplesPool []Sample, exemplarsPool []Exemplar) ([]Label, []Label, []Sample, []Exemplar, error) {
+func (ts *TimeSeries) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte, labelsPool []Label, samplesPool []Sample) ([]Label, []Sample, error) {
 	// message TimeSeries {
 	//   repeated Label labels   = 1;
 	//   repeated Sample samples = 2;
-	//   repeated Exemplar exemplars = 3
 	// }
 	labelsPoolLen := len(labelsPool)
 	samplesPoolLen := len(samplesPool)
-	exemplarsPoolLen := len(exemplarsPool)
 	var fc easyproto.FieldContext
 	for len(src) > 0 {
 		var err error
 		src, err = fc.NextField(src)
 		if err != nil {
-			return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the next field: %w", err)
+			return labelsPool, samplesPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the next field: %w", err)
 		}
 		switch fc.FieldNum {
 		case 1:
 			data, ok := fc.MessageData()
 			if !ok {
-				return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read label data")
+				return labelsPool, samplesPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read label data")
 			}
 			if len(labelsPool) < cap(labelsPool) {
 				labelsPool = labelsPool[:len(labelsPool)+1]
@@ -162,12 +132,12 @@ func (ts *TimeSeries) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte, labelsPool []Label, exemplar
 			}
 			label := &labelsPool[len(labelsPool)-1]
 			if err := label.unmarshalProtobuf(data); err != nil {
-				return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal label: %w", err)
+				return labelsPool, samplesPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal label: %w", err)
 			}
 		case 2:
 			data, ok := fc.MessageData()
 			if !ok {
-				return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the sample data")
+				return labelsPool, samplesPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the sample data")
 			}
 			if len(samplesPool) < cap(samplesPool) {
 				samplesPool = samplesPool[:len(samplesPool)+1]
@@ -176,78 +146,15 @@ func (ts *TimeSeries) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte, labelsPool []Label, exemplar
 			}
 			sample := &samplesPool[len(samplesPool)-1]
 			if err := sample.unmarshalProtobuf(data); err != nil {
-				return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal sample: %w", err)
+				return labelsPool, samplesPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal sample: %w", err)
-			}
-		case 3:
-			data, ok := fc.MessageData()
-			if !ok {
-				return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the exemplar data")
-			}
-			if len(exemplarsPool) < cap(exemplarsPool) {
-				exemplarsPool = exemplarsPool[:len(exemplarsPool)+1]
-			} else {
-				exemplarsPool = append(exemplarsPool, Exemplar{})
-			}
-			exemplar := &exemplarsPool[len(exemplarsPool)-1]
-			if exemplarLabelsPool, err = exemplar.unmarshalProtobuf(data, exemplarLabelsPool); err != nil {
-				return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal exemplar: %w", err)
 			}
 		}
 	}
 	ts.Labels = labelsPool[labelsPoolLen:]
 	ts.Samples = samplesPool[samplesPoolLen:]
-	ts.Exemplars = exemplarsPool[exemplarsPoolLen:]
+	return labelsPool, samplesPool, nil
-	return labelsPool, exemplarLabelsPool, samplesPool, exemplarsPool, nil
 }
 
-func (exemplar *Exemplar) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte, labelsPool []Label) ([]Label, error) {
-	// message Exemplar {
-	//   repeated Label Labels  = 1;
-	//   float64 Value = 2;
-	//   int64 Timestamp = 3;
-	// }
-	var fc easyproto.FieldContext
-
-	labelsPoolLen := len(labelsPool)
-
-	for len(src) > 0 {
-		var err error
-		src, err = fc.NextField(src)
-		if err != nil {
-			return labelsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the next field: %w", err)
-		}
-		switch fc.FieldNum {
-		case 1:
-			data, ok := fc.MessageData()
-			if !ok {
-				return labelsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read label data")
-			}
-			if len(labelsPool) < cap(labelsPool) {
-				labelsPool = labelsPool[:len(labelsPool)+1]
-			} else {
-				labelsPool = append(labelsPool, Label{})
-			}
-			label := &labelsPool[len(labelsPool)-1]
-			if err := label.unmarshalProtobuf(data); err != nil {
-				return labelsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal label: %w", err)
-			}
-		case 2:
-			value, ok := fc.Double()
-			if !ok {
-				return labelsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read exemplar value")
-			}
-			exemplar.Value = value
-		case 3:
-			timestamp, ok := fc.Int64()
-			if !ok {
-				return labelsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot read exemplar timestamp")
-			}
-			exemplar.Timestamp = timestamp
-		}
-	}
-	exemplar.Labels = labelsPool[labelsPoolLen:]
-	return labelsPool, nil
-}
 func (lbl *Label) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 	// message Label {
 	//   string name  = 1;

lib/prompb/prompb_test.go

@@ -36,25 +36,9 @@ func TestWriteRequestUnmarshalProtobuf(t *testing.T) {
 					Timestamp: sample.Timestamp,
 				})
 			}
-			var exemplars []prompbmarshal.Exemplar
-			for _, exemplar := range ts.Exemplars {
-				exemplarLabels := make([]prompbmarshal.Label, len(exemplar.Labels))
-				for i, label := range exemplar.Labels {
-					exemplarLabels[i] = prompbmarshal.Label{
-						Name:  label.Name,
-						Value: label.Value,
-					}
-				}
-				exemplars = append(exemplars, prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-					Labels:    exemplarLabels,
-					Value:     exemplar.Value,
-					Timestamp: exemplar.Timestamp,
-				})
-			}
 			wrm.Timeseries = append(wrm.Timeseries, prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
 				Labels:  labels,
 				Samples: samples,
-				Exemplars: exemplars,
 			})
 		}
 		dataResult := wrm.MarshalProtobuf(nil)
@@ -137,19 +121,6 @@ func TestWriteRequestUnmarshalProtobuf(t *testing.T) {
 					Timestamp: 18939432423,
 				},
 			},
-			Exemplars: []prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-				{
-					Labels: []prompbmarshal.Label{
-						{Name: "trace-id",
-							Value: "123456",
-						},
-						{Name: "log_id",
-							Value: "987664"},
-					},
-					Value:     12345.6,
-					Timestamp: 456,
-				},
-			},
 		},
 	}
 	data = wrm.MarshalProtobuf(data[:0])
@@ -182,18 +153,6 @@ func TestWriteRequestUnmarshalProtobuf(t *testing.T) {
 					Timestamp: 18939432423,
 				},
 			},
-			Exemplars: []prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-				{
-					Labels: []prompbmarshal.Label{
-						{
-							Name:  "trace-id",
-							Value: "123456",
-						},
-					},
-					Value:     12345.6,
-					Timestamp: 456,
-				},
-			},
 		},
 		{
 			Labels: []prompbmarshal.Label{
@@ -207,22 +166,6 @@ func TestWriteRequestUnmarshalProtobuf(t *testing.T) {
 					Value: 9873,
 				},
 			},
-			Exemplars: []prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-				{
-					Labels: []prompbmarshal.Label{
-						{
-							Name:  "trace-id",
-							Value: "123456",
-						},
-						{
-							Name:  "log_id",
-							Value: "987654",
-						},
-					},
-					Value:     12345.6,
-					Timestamp: 456,
-				},
-			},
 		},
 	}
 	data = wrm.MarshalProtobuf(data[:0])

lib/prompbmarshal/prompbmarshal_test.go

@@ -36,22 +36,6 @@ func TestWriteRequestMarshalProtobuf(t *testing.T) {
 						Timestamp: 18939432423,
 					},
 				},
-				Exemplars: []prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-					{
-						Labels: []prompbmarshal.Label{
-							{
-								Name:  "trace-id",
-								Value: "123456",
-							},
-							{
-								Name:  "log_id",
-								Value: "987654",
-							},
-						},
-						Value:     12345.6,
-						Timestamp: 456,
-					},
-				},
 			},
 		},
 	}
@@ -80,25 +64,9 @@ func TestWriteRequestMarshalProtobuf(t *testing.T) {
 				Timestamp: sample.Timestamp,
 			})
 		}
-		var exemplars []prompbmarshal.Exemplar
-		for _, exemplar := range ts.Exemplars {
-			exemplarLabels := make([]prompbmarshal.Label, len(exemplar.Labels))
-			for i, label := range exemplar.Labels {
-				exemplarLabels[i] = prompbmarshal.Label{
-					Name:  label.Name,
-					Value: label.Value,
-				}
-			}
-			exemplars = append(exemplars, prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-				Labels:    exemplarLabels,
-				Value:     exemplar.Value,
-				Timestamp: exemplar.Timestamp,
-			})
-		}
 		wrm.Timeseries = append(wrm.Timeseries, prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
 			Labels:  labels,
 			Samples: samples,
-			Exemplars: exemplars,
 		})
 	}
 	dataResult := wrm.MarshalProtobuf(nil)

lib/prompbmarshal/types.pb.go

@@ -13,70 +13,10 @@ type Sample struct {
 	Timestamp int64
 }
 
-type Exemplar struct {
-	// Optional, can be empty.
-	Labels []Label
-	Value  float64
-	// timestamp is in ms format, see model/timestamp/timestamp.go for
-	// conversion from time.Time to Prometheus timestamp.
-	Timestamp int64
-}
-
-func (m *Exemplar) MarshalToSizedBuffer(dAtA []byte) (int, error) {
-	i := len(dAtA)
-	if m.Timestamp != 0 {
-		i = encodeVarint(dAtA, i, uint64(m.Timestamp))
-		i--
-		dAtA[i] = 0x18
-	}
-	if m.Value != 0 {
-		i -= 8
-		binary.LittleEndian.PutUint64(dAtA[i:], uint64(math.Float64bits(float64(m.Value))))
-		i--
-		dAtA[i] = 0x11
-	}
-	if len(m.Labels) > 0 {
-		for iNdEx := len(m.Labels) - 1; iNdEx >= 0; iNdEx-- {
-			{
-				size, err := m.Labels[iNdEx].MarshalToSizedBuffer(dAtA[:i])
-				if err != nil {
-					return 0, err
-				}
-				i -= size
-				i = encodeVarint(dAtA, i, uint64(size))
-			}
-			i--
-			dAtA[i] = 0xa
-		}
-	}
-	return len(dAtA) - i, nil
-}
-func (m *Exemplar) Size() (n int) {
-	if m == nil {
-		return 0
-	}
-	var l int
-	_ = l
-	if len(m.Labels) > 0 {
-		for _, e := range m.Labels {
-			l = e.Size()
-			n += 1 + l + sov(uint64(l))
-		}
-	}
-	if m.Value != 0 {
-		n += 9
-	}
-	if m.Timestamp != 0 {
-		n += 1 + sov(uint64(m.Timestamp))
-	}
-	return n
-}
-
 // TimeSeries represents samples and labels for a single time series.
 type TimeSeries struct {
 	Labels  []Label
 	Samples []Sample
-	Exemplars []Exemplar
 }
 
 type Label struct {
@@ -102,16 +42,6 @@ func (m *Sample) MarshalToSizedBuffer(dst []byte) (int, error) {
 
 func (m *TimeSeries) MarshalToSizedBuffer(dst []byte) (int, error) {
 	i := len(dst)
-	for j := len(m.Exemplars) - 1; j >= 0; j-- {
-		size, err := m.Exemplars[j].MarshalToSizedBuffer(dst[:i])
-		if err != nil {
-			return 0, err
-		}
-		i -= size
-		i = encodeVarint(dst, i, uint64(size))
-		i--
-		dst[i] = 0x1a
-	}
 	for j := len(m.Samples) - 1; j >= 0; j-- {
 		size, err := m.Samples[j].MarshalToSizedBuffer(dst[:i])
 		if err != nil {
@@ -179,10 +109,6 @@ func (m *TimeSeries) Size() (n int) {
 		l := e.Size()
 		n += 1 + l + sov(uint64(l))
 	}
-	for _, e := range m.Exemplars {
-		l := e.Size()
-		n += 1 + l + sov(uint64(l))
-	}
 	return n
 }
 

lib/promscrape/client.go

@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ var (
 	streamParse = flag.Bool("promscrape.streamParse", false, "Whether to enable stream parsing for metrics obtained from scrape targets. This may be useful "+
 		"for reducing memory usage when millions of metrics are exposed per each scrape target. "+
 		"It is possible to set 'stream_parse: true' individually per each 'scrape_config' section in '-promscrape.config' for fine-grained control")
-	scrapeExemplars = flag.Bool("promscrape.scrapeExemplars", false, "Whether to enable scraping of exemplars from scrape targets.")
 )
 
 type client struct {
@@ -109,12 +108,6 @@ func (c *client) ReadData(dst *bytesutil.ByteBuffer) error {
 	// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/608 for details.
 	// Do not bloat the `Accept` header with OpenMetrics shit, since it looks like dead standard now.
 	req.Header.Set("Accept", "text/plain;version=0.0.4;q=1,*/*;q=0.1")
-	// We set to support exemplars to be compatible with Prometheus Exposition format which uses
-	// Open Metrics Specification
-	// See https://github.com/prometheus/docs/blob/main/content/docs/instrumenting/exposition_formats.md#openmetrics-text-format
-	if *scrapeExemplars {
-		req.Header.Set("Accept", "application/openmetrics-text")
-	}
 	// Set X-Prometheus-Scrape-Timeout-Seconds like Prometheus does, since it is used by some exporters such as PushProx.
 	// See https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1179#issuecomment-813117162
 	req.Header.Set("X-Prometheus-Scrape-Timeout-Seconds", c.scrapeTimeoutSecondsStr)

lib/promscrape/scrapework.go

@@ -675,7 +675,6 @@ type writeRequestCtx struct {
 	writeRequest prompbmarshal.WriteRequest
 	labels       []prompbmarshal.Label
 	samples      []prompbmarshal.Sample
-	exemplars    []prompbmarshal.Exemplar
 }
 
 func (wc *writeRequestCtx) reset() {
@@ -690,7 +689,6 @@ func (wc *writeRequestCtx) resetNoRows() {
 	wc.labels = wc.labels[:0]
 
 	wc.samples = wc.samples[:0]
-	wc.exemplars = wc.exemplars[:0]
 }
 
 var writeRequestCtxPool leveledWriteRequestCtxPool
@@ -911,27 +909,10 @@ func (sw *scrapeWork) addRowToTimeseries(wc *writeRequestCtx, r *parser.Row, tim
 		Value:     r.Value,
 		Timestamp: sampleTimestamp,
 	})
-	// Add Exemplars to Timeseries
-	exemplarsLen := len(wc.exemplars)
-	exemplarTagsLen := len(r.Exemplar.Tags)
-	if exemplarTagsLen > 0 {
-		exemplarLabels := make([]prompbmarshal.Label, exemplarTagsLen)
-		for i, label := range r.Exemplar.Tags {
-			exemplarLabels[i].Name = label.Key
-			exemplarLabels[i].Value = label.Value
-		}
-		wc.exemplars = append(wc.exemplars, prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-			Labels:    exemplarLabels,
-			Value:     r.Exemplar.Value,
-			Timestamp: r.Exemplar.Timestamp,
-		})
-
-	}
 	wr := &wc.writeRequest
 	wr.Timeseries = append(wr.Timeseries, prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
 		Labels:  wc.labels[labelsLen:],
 		Samples: wc.samples[len(wc.samples)-1:],
-		Exemplars: wc.exemplars[exemplarsLen:],
 	})
 }
 

lib/promscrape/scrapework_test.go

@@ -724,11 +724,6 @@ func TestAddRowToTimeseriesNoRelabeling(t *testing.T) {
 			HonorLabels: true,
 		},
 		`metric{a="e",foo="bar"} 0 123`)
-	f(`metric{foo="bar"} 0 123 # {trace_id="12345"} 52 456`,
-		&ScrapeWork{
-			HonorLabels: true,
-		},
-		`metric{foo="bar"} 0 123 # {trace_id="12345"} 52 456`)
 }
 
 func TestSendStaleSeries(t *testing.T) {
@@ -786,8 +781,6 @@ func parseData(data string) []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries {
 	}
 	rows.UnmarshalWithErrLogger(data, errLogger)
 	var tss []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries
-	var exemplars []prompbmarshal.Exemplar
-
 	for _, r := range rows.Rows {
 		labels := []prompbmarshal.Label{
 			{
@@ -801,21 +794,6 @@ func parseData(data string) []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries {
 				Value: tag.Value,
 			})
 		}
-		exemplarLabels := []prompbmarshal.Label{}
-		if len(r.Exemplar.Tags) > 0 {
-			for _, tag := range r.Exemplar.Tags {
-				exemplarLabels = append(exemplarLabels, prompbmarshal.Label{
-					Name:  tag.Key,
-					Value: tag.Value,
-				})
-			}
-			exemplars = append(exemplars, prompbmarshal.Exemplar{
-				Labels:    exemplarLabels,
-				Value:     r.Exemplar.Value,
-				Timestamp: r.Exemplar.Timestamp,
-			})
-		}
-
 		var ts prompbmarshal.TimeSeries
 		ts.Labels = labels
 		ts.Samples = []prompbmarshal.Sample{
@@ -824,7 +802,6 @@ func parseData(data string) []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries {
 				Timestamp: r.Timestamp,
 			},
 		}
-		ts.Exemplars = exemplars
 		tss = append(tss, ts)
 	}
 	return tss
@@ -889,19 +866,6 @@ func timeseriesToString(ts *prompbmarshal.TimeSeries) string {
 	}
 	s := ts.Samples[0]
 	fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "%g %d", s.Value, s.Timestamp)
-	// Add Exemplars to the end of string
-	for j, exemplar := range ts.Exemplars {
-		for i, label := range exemplar.Labels {
-			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "%s=%q", label.Name, label.Value)
-			if i+1 < len(ts.Labels) {
-				fmt.Fprintf(&sb, ",")
-			}
-		}
-		fmt.Fprintf(&sb, "%g %d", exemplar.Value, exemplar.Timestamp)
-		if j+1 < len(ts.Exemplars) {
-			fmt.Fprintf(&sb, ",")
-		}
-	}
 	return sb.String()
 }
 

lib/protoparser/prometheus/parser.go

@@ -57,33 +57,12 @@ func (rs *Rows) UnmarshalWithErrLogger(s string, errLogger func(s string)) {
 	rs.Rows, rs.tagsPool = unmarshalRows(rs.Rows[:0], s, rs.tagsPool[:0], noEscapes, errLogger)
 }
 
-const tagsPrefix = '{'
-const exemplarPreifx = '{'
-
-// Exemplar Item
-type Exemplar struct {
-	// Tags: a list of labels that uniquely identifies exemplar
-	Tags []Tag
-	// Value: the value of the exemplar
-	Value float64
-	// Timestamp: the time when exemplar was recorded
-	Timestamp int64
-}
-
-// Reset - resets the Exemplar object to defaults
-func (e *Exemplar) Reset() {
-	e.Tags = nil
-	e.Value = 0
-	e.Timestamp = 0
-}
-
 // Row is a single Prometheus row.
 type Row struct {
 	Metric    string
 	Tags      []Tag
 	Value     float64
 	Timestamp int64
-	Exemplar  Exemplar
 }
 
 func (r *Row) reset() {
@@ -91,7 +70,6 @@ func (r *Row) reset() {
 	r.Tags = nil
 	r.Value = 0
 	r.Timestamp = 0
-	r.Exemplar = Exemplar{}
 }
 
 func skipTrailingComment(s string) string {
@@ -132,140 +110,69 @@ func nextWhitespace(s string) int {
 	return n1
 }
 
-func parseStringToTags(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) (string, []Tag, error) {
+func (r *Row) unmarshal(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) ([]Tag, error) {
-	n := strings.IndexByte(s, tagsPrefix)
+	r.reset()
-	c := strings.IndexByte(s, '#')
-	if c != -1 && c < n {
-		return s, tagsPool, nil
-	}
 	s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s)
+	n := strings.IndexByte(s, '{')
 	if n >= 0 {
 		// Tags found. Parse them.
+		r.Metric = skipTrailingWhitespace(s[:n])
 		s = s[n+1:]
+		tagsStart := len(tagsPool)
 		var err error
 		s, tagsPool, err = unmarshalTags(tagsPool, s, noEscapes)
 		if err != nil {
-			return s, tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal tags: %w", err)
+			return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot unmarshal tags: %w", err)
 		}
 		if len(s) > 0 && s[0] == ' ' {
 			// Fast path - skip whitespace.
 			s = s[1:]
 		}
-	}
+		tags := tagsPool[tagsStart:]
-	return s, tagsPool, nil
+		r.Tags = tags[:len(tags):len(tags)]
-}
+	} else {
-
+		// Tags weren't found. Search for value after whitespace
-var tvtPool = sync.Pool{New: func() interface{} {
-	return &tagsValueTimestamp{}
-}}
-
-func getTVT() *tagsValueTimestamp {
-	return tvtPool.Get().(*tagsValueTimestamp)
-}
-func putTVT(tvt *tagsValueTimestamp) {
-	tvt.reset()
-	tvtPool.Put(tvt)
-}
-
-type tagsValueTimestamp struct {
-	Prefix    string
-	Value     float64
-	Timestamp int64
-	Comments  string
-}
-
-func (tvt *tagsValueTimestamp) reset() {
-	tvt.Prefix = ""
-	tvt.Value = 0
-	tvt.Timestamp = 0
-	tvt.Comments = ""
-}
-func parseTagsValueTimestamp(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) ([]Tag, *tagsValueTimestamp, error) {
-	tvt := getTVT()
-	n := 0
-	// Prefix is everything up to a tag start or a space
-	t := strings.IndexByte(s, tagsPrefix)
-	// If there is no tag start process rest of string
-	mustParseTags := false
-	if t != -1 {
-		// Check to see if there is a space before tag
 		n = nextWhitespace(s)
-		// If there is a space
+		if n < 0 {
-		if n > 0 {
+			return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("missing value")
-			if n < t {
-				tvt.Prefix = s[:n]
-				s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s[n:])
-				// Cover the use case where there is whitespace between the prefix and the tag
-				if len(s) > 0 && s[0] == '{' {
-					mustParseTags = true
 		}
-				// Most likely this has an exemplar
+		r.Metric = s[:n]
-			} else {
+		s = s[n+1:]
-				tvt.Prefix = s[:t]
-				s = s[t:]
-				mustParseTags = true
-			}
-		}
-		if mustParseTags {
-			var err error
-			s, tagsPool, err = parseStringToTags(s, tagsPool, noEscapes)
-			if err != nil {
-				return tagsPool, tvt, err
-			}
-		}
-	} else {
-		// Tag doesn't exist
-		n = nextWhitespace(s)
-		if n != -1 {
-			tvt.Prefix = s[:n]
-			s = s[n:]
-		} else {
-			tvt.Prefix = s
-			return tagsPool, tvt, fmt.Errorf("missing value")
 	}
+	if len(r.Metric) == 0 {
+		return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("metric cannot be empty")
 	}
 	s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s)
-	// save and remove the comments
-	n = strings.IndexByte(s, '#')
-	if n >= 0 {
-		tvt.Comments = s[n:]
-		if len(tvt.Comments) > 1 {
-			tvt.Comments = s[n+1:]
-		} else {
-			tvt.Comments = ""
-		}
 	s = skipTrailingComment(s)
-		s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s)
+	if len(s) == 0 {
-		s = skipTrailingWhitespace(s)
+		return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("value cannot be empty")
 	}
 	n = nextWhitespace(s)
 	if n < 0 {
 		// There is no timestamp.
 		v, err := fastfloat.Parse(s)
 		if err != nil {
-			return tagsPool, tvt, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse value %q: %w", s, err)
+			return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse value %q: %w", s, err)
 		}
-		tvt.Value = v
+		r.Value = v
-		return tagsPool, tvt, nil
+		return tagsPool, nil
 	}
-	// There is a timestamp
+	// There is a timestamp.
-	s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s)
 	v, err := fastfloat.Parse(s[:n])
 	if err != nil {
-		return tagsPool, tvt, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse value %q: %w", s[:n], err)
+		return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse value %q: %w", s[:n], err)
 	}
-	tvt.Value = v
+	r.Value = v
-	s = s[n:]
+	s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s[n+1:])
-	// There are some whitespaces after timestamp
-	s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s)
 	if len(s) == 0 {
 		// There is no timestamp - just a whitespace after the value.
-		return tagsPool, tvt, nil
+		return tagsPool, nil
 	}
+	// There are some whitespaces after timestamp
 	s = skipTrailingWhitespace(s)
 	ts, err := fastfloat.Parse(s)
 	if err != nil {
-		return tagsPool, tvt, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse timestamp %q: %w", s, err)
+		return tagsPool, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse timestamp %q: %w", s, err)
 	}
 	if ts >= -1<<31 && ts < 1<<31 {
 		// This looks like OpenMetrics timestamp in Unix seconds.
@@ -274,68 +181,7 @@ func parseTagsValueTimestamp(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) ([]Tag, *
 		// See https://github.com/OpenObservability/OpenMetrics/blob/master/specification/OpenMetrics.md#timestamps
 		ts *= 1000
 	}
-	tvt.Timestamp = int64(ts)
+	r.Timestamp = int64(ts)
-	return tagsPool, tvt, nil
-}
-
-// Returns possible comments that could be exemplars
-func (r *Row) unmarshalMetric(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) (string, []Tag, error) {
-	tagsStart := len(tagsPool)
-	var err error
-	var tvt *tagsValueTimestamp
-	tagsPool, tvt, err = parseTagsValueTimestamp(s, tagsPool, noEscapes)
-	defer putTVT(tvt)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", tagsPool, err
-	}
-	r.Metric = tvt.Prefix
-	tags := tagsPool[tagsStart:]
-	if len(tags) > 0 {
-		r.Tags = tags
-	}
-	r.Value = tvt.Value
-	r.Timestamp = tvt.Timestamp
-	return tvt.Comments, tagsPool, nil
-
-}
-func (e *Exemplar) unmarshal(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) ([]Tag, error) {
-	// We can use the Comment parsed out to further parse the Exemplar
-	s = skipLeadingWhitespace(s)
-	// If we are a comment immediately followed by whitespace or a labelset
-	// then we are an exemplar
-	if len(s) != 0 && s[0] == exemplarPreifx {
-		var err error
-		var tvt *tagsValueTimestamp
-		tagsStart := len(tagsPool)
-		tagsPool, tvt, err = parseTagsValueTimestamp(s, tagsPool, noEscapes)
-		defer putTVT(tvt)
-		if err != nil {
-			return tagsPool, err
-		}
-		tags := tagsPool[tagsStart:]
-		if len(tags) > 0 {
-			e.Tags = tags
-		}
-		e.Value = tvt.Value
-		e.Timestamp = tvt.Timestamp
-		return tagsPool, nil
-	}
-	return tagsPool, nil
-
-}
-func (r *Row) unmarshal(s string, tagsPool []Tag, noEscapes bool) ([]Tag, error) {
-	r.reset()
-	// Parse for labels, the value and the timestamp
-	// Anything before labels is saved in Prefix we can use this
-	// for the metric name
-	comments, tagsPool, err := r.unmarshalMetric(s, tagsPool, noEscapes)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	tagsPool, err = r.Exemplar.unmarshal(comments, tagsPool, noEscapes)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
 	return tagsPool, nil
 }
 

lib/protoparser/prometheus/parser_test.go

@@ -362,87 +362,12 @@ cassandra_token_ownership_ratio 78.9`, &Rows{
 			Value: 56,
 		}},
 	})
-	// Support for Exemplars Open Metric Specification
+
-	// see: https://github.com/OpenObservability/OpenMetrics/blob/main/specification/OpenMetrics.md#exemplars-1
+	// Exemplars - see https://github.com/OpenObservability/OpenMetrics/blob/master/OpenMetrics.md#exemplars-1
-	f(`foo_bucket{le="25"} 17 # {trace_id="oHg5SJYRHA0", log_id="test_id"} 9.8 1520879607.789`, &Rows{
+	f(`foo_bucket{le="10",a="#b"} 17 # {trace_id="oHg5SJ#YRHA0"} 9.8 1520879607.789
+	   abc 123 456 # foobar
+	   foo   344#bar`, &Rows{
 		Rows: []Row{
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "le",
-						Value: "25",
-					},
-				},
-				Value: 17,
-				Exemplar: Exemplar{
-					Value: 9.8,
-					Tags: []Tag{
-						{
-							Key:   "trace_id",
-							Value: "oHg5SJYRHA0",
-						},
-						{
-							Key:   "log_id",
-							Value: "test_id",
-						},
-					},
-					Timestamp: 1520879607789,
-				},
-			},
-		}})
-	f(`foo_bucket{le="0.01"} 0
-foo_bucket{le="0.1"} 8 # {} 0.054
-foo_bucket{le="1"} 11 # {trace_id="KOO5S4vxi0o"} 0.67
-foo_bucket{le="10"} 17 # {trace_id="oHg5SJYRHA0"} 9.8 1520879607.789
-foo_bucket{le="25"} 17 # {trace_id="oHg5SJYRHA0", log_id="test_id"} 9.8 1520879607.789
-foo_bucket{nospace="exemplar"} 17 #{trace_id="oHg5SJYRHA0"} 9.8 1520879607.789
-foo_bucket{le="+Inf"} 17
-foo_count 17
-foo_sum 324789.3
-foo_created  1520430000.123`, &Rows{
-		Rows: []Row{
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "le",
-						Value: "0.01",
-					},
-				},
-			},
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "le",
-						Value: "0.1",
-					},
-				},
-				Value: 8,
-				Exemplar: Exemplar{
-					Value: 0.054,
-				},
-			},
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "le",
-						Value: "1",
-					},
-				},
-				Value: 11,
-				Exemplar: Exemplar{
-					Value: 0.67,
-					Tags: []Tag{
-						{
-							Key:   "trace_id",
-							Value: "KOO5S4vxi0o",
-						},
-					},
-				},
-			},
 			{
 				Metric: "foo_bucket",
 				Tags: []Tag{
@@ -450,84 +375,21 @@ foo_created  1520430000.123`, &Rows{
 						Key:   "le",
 						Value: "10",
 					},
-				},
-				Value: 17,
-				Exemplar: Exemplar{
-					Value: 9.8,
-					Tags: []Tag{
 					{
-							Key:   "trace_id",
+						Key:   "a",
-							Value: "oHg5SJYRHA0",
+						Value: "#b",
-						},
-					},
-					Timestamp: 1520879607789,
-				},
-			},
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "le",
-						Value: "25",
-					},
-				},
-				Value: 17,
-				Exemplar: Exemplar{
-					Value: 9.8,
-					Tags: []Tag{
-						{
-							Key:   "trace_id",
-							Value: "oHg5SJYRHA0",
-						},
-						{
-							Key:   "log_id",
-							Value: "test_id",
-						},
-					},
-					Timestamp: 1520879607789,
-				},
-			},
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "nospace",
-						Value: "exemplar",
-					},
-				},
-				Value: 17,
-				Exemplar: Exemplar{
-					Value: 9.8,
-					Tags: []Tag{
-						{
-							Key:   "trace_id",
-							Value: "oHg5SJYRHA0",
-						},
-					},
-					Timestamp: 1520879607789,
-				},
-			},
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_bucket",
-				Tags: []Tag{
-					{
-						Key:   "le",
-						Value: "+Inf",
 					},
 				},
 				Value: 17,
 			},
 			{
-				Metric: "foo_count",
+				Metric:    "abc",
-				Value:  17,
+				Value:     123,
+				Timestamp: 456000,
 			},
 			{
-				Metric: "foo_sum",
+				Metric: "foo",
-				Value:  324789.3,
+				Value:  344,
-			},
-			{
-				Metric: "foo_created",
-				Value:  1520430000.123,
 			},
 		},
 	})

lib/protoparser/prometheus/parser_timing_test.go

@@ -146,10 +146,10 @@ container_ulimits_soft{container="kube-scheduler",id="/kubelet/kubepods/burstabl
 }
 
 func BenchmarkRowsUnmarshal(b *testing.B) {
-	s := `foo_bucket{le="0.01"} 0
+	s := `cpu_usage{mode="user"} 1.23
-			foo_bucket{le="1"} 11 # {trace_id="KOO5S4vxi0o"} 0.67
+cpu_usage{mode="system"} 23.344
-			foo_bucket{le="10"} 17 # {trace_id="oHg5SJYRHA0"} 9.8 1520879607.789
+cpu_usage{mode="iowait"} 3.3443
-			foo_bucket{nospace="exemplar"} 17 #{trace_id="oHg5SJYRHA0"} 9.8 1520879607.789 
+cpu_usage{mode="irq"} 0.34432
 `
 	b.SetBytes(int64(len(s)))
 	b.ReportAllocs()