Add feature flag to allow enabling otel for internal metrics

config/configtelemetry/configtelemetry.go

@@ -36,8 +36,6 @@ const (
 	levelDetailedStr = "detailed"
 )
 
-const UseOpenTelemetryForInternalMetrics = false
-
 // Level is the level of internal telemetry (metrics, logs, traces about the component itself)
 // that every component should generate.
 type Level int32

service/collector_test.go

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/expfmt"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/service/featuregate"
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"go.uber.org/zap/zapcore"
 
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ func TestCollector_StartAsGoRoutine(t *testing.T) {
 	}, time.Second*2, time.Millisecond*200)
 }
 
-func TestCollector_Start(t *testing.T) {
+func testCollectorStartHelper(t *testing.T) {
 	factories, err := testcomponents.NewDefaultFactories()
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	var once sync.Once
@@ -135,6 +136,19 @@ func TestCollector_Start(t *testing.T) {
 	}, time.Second*2, time.Millisecond*200)
 }
 
+func TestCollector_Start(t *testing.T) {
+	testCollectorStartHelper(t)
+}
+
+func TestCollector_StartWithOtelInternalMetrics(t *testing.T) {
+	featuregate.Register(featuregate.Gate{
+		ID:          UseOtelForInternalMetricsfeatureGateID,
+		Description: "controls whether the collector to uses open telemetry for internal metrics",
+		Enabled:     true,
+	})
+	testCollectorStartHelper(t)
+}
+
 // TestCollector_ShutdownNoop verifies that shutdown can be called even if a collector
 // has yet to be started and it will execute without error.
 func TestCollector_ShutdownNoop(t *testing.T) {

service/telemetry.go

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"contrib.go.opencensus.io/exporter/prometheus"
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	"go.opencensus.io/stats/view"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/service/featuregate"
 	otelprometheus "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/prometheus"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/global"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric/aggregator/histogram"
@@ -50,6 +51,10 @@ const AddCollectorVersionTag = true
 const (
 	zapKeyTelemetryAddress = "address"
 	zapKeyTelemetryLevel   = "level"
+
+	// UseOtelForInternalMetricsfeatureGateID is the feature gate ID that controls whether the collector uses open
+	// telemetry for internal metrics.
+	UseOtelForInternalMetricsfeatureGateID = "telemetry.useOtelForInternalMetrics"
 )
 
 type collectorTelemetryExporter interface {
@@ -98,7 +103,7 @@ func (tel *colTelemetry) initOnce(col *Collector) error {
 	instanceID := instanceUUID.String()
 
 	var pe http.Handler
-	if configtelemetry.UseOpenTelemetryForInternalMetrics {
+	if featuregate.IsEnabled(UseOtelForInternalMetricsfeatureGateID) {
 		otelHandler, err := tel.initOpenTelemetry()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err