record_exception: Accept BaseException

This makes it possible to call on the exception returned by
[sys.exc_info], which is a BaseException.

For ecosystem prior art, the [equivalent in Java] accepts a Throwable
rather than Exception.

[sys.exc_info]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.exc_info
[equivalent in Java]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java/blob/7b8608591e1737ea0727d2373ddd813bc18cdaaa/api/all/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/api/trace/Span.java#L344-L351

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 - Add max_scale option to Exponential Bucket Histogram Aggregation [#3323](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/3323))
 - Use BoundedAttributes instead of raw dict to extract attributes from LogRecord and Support dropped_attributes_count in LogRecord ([#3310](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/3310))
+- Accept BaseException in record_exception, allowing it to be called with the
+  exception returned by `sys.exc_info()`
+  ([#3354](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/3354))
 
 ## Version 1.18.0/0.39b0 (2023-05-04)
 

opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/trace/span.py

@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ def set_status(
     @abc.abstractmethod
     def record_exception(
         self,
-        exception: Exception,
+        exception: BaseException,
         attributes: types.Attributes = None,
         timestamp: typing.Optional[int] = None,
         escaped: bool = False,
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ def set_status(
 
     def record_exception(
         self,
-        exception: Exception,
+        exception: BaseException,
         attributes: types.Attributes = None,
         timestamp: typing.Optional[int] = None,
         escaped: bool = False,

opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py

@@ -956,7 +956,7 @@ def __exit__(
 
     def record_exception(
         self,
-        exception: Exception,
+        exception: BaseException,
         attributes: types.Attributes = None,
         timestamp: Optional[int] = None,
         escaped: bool = False,