Share parent's PropagationTags for local child spans

dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/CoreTracer.java

@@ -2031,7 +2031,9 @@ protected static final DDSpanContext buildSpanContext(
           requestContextDataIast = null;
           ciVisibilityContextData = null;
         }
-        propagationTags = tracer.propagationTagsFactory.empty();
+        // Local children share the parent's PropagationTags (trace-level state; reads route to the
+        // root) instead of allocating an unused empty() per span.
+        propagationTags = ddsc.getPropagationTags();
       } else {
         long endToEndStartTime;
 

dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/DDSpanContext.java

@@ -1238,14 +1238,22 @@ void processTagsAndBaggage(
 
       // Baggage
       Map<String, String> baggageItemsWithPropagationTags;
+      // Trace-level propagation tags (_dd.p.*, including the _dd.p.dm decision-maker) belong only
+      // on the local root. Local children now share the root's PropagationTags instance, so gate
+      // the emit on span position; otherwise the trace-level tags would be duplicated onto every
+      // child span.
+      final boolean isLocalRoot = getRootSpanContextIfDifferent() == null;
       if (injectBaggageAsTags) {
         baggageItemsWithPropagationTags = new HashMap<>(baggageItems);
         if (w3cBaggage != null) {
           injectW3CBaggageTags(baggageItemsWithPropagationTags);
         }
-        propagationTags.fillTagMap(baggageItemsWithPropagationTags);
+        if (isLocalRoot) {
+          propagationTags.fillTagMap(baggageItemsWithPropagationTags);
+        }
       } else {
-        baggageItemsWithPropagationTags = propagationTags.createTagMap();
+        baggageItemsWithPropagationTags =
+            isLocalRoot ? propagationTags.createTagMap() : new HashMap<>();
       }
 
       consumer.accept(

dd-trace-core/src/test/java/datadog/trace/core/PropagationTagsChildSpanTest.java

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+package datadog.trace.core;
+
+import static datadog.trace.api.TracePropagationStyle.DATADOG;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+
+import datadog.trace.api.DDTraceId;
+import datadog.trace.api.sampling.PrioritySampling;
+import datadog.trace.bootstrap.instrumentation.api.AgentSpan;
+import datadog.trace.core.propagation.ExtractedContext;
+import datadog.trace.core.propagation.PropagationTags;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+/**
+ * Regression guard for the "local children share the parent's {@link PropagationTags}" optimization
+ * in {@code CoreTracer.buildSpanContext}: a non-root (local child) span must still carry the
+ * inbound distributed {@code _dd.p.*} tags when it injects.
+ *
+ * <p>Inbound {@code _dd.p.*} live on the root's {@code PropagationTags} (inherited from the {@link
+ * ExtractedContext}), and reads route to the root via {@code DDSpanContext.getPropagationTags()} —
+ * so a local child injects the same tags whether it holds its own instance or shares the root's.
+ * That invariant is what lets the child skip allocating its own {@code empty()} and share the
+ * root's instead. If {@link #localChildCarriesInboundDdpTags()} regresses, non-root injection is
+ * dropping inbound {@code _dd.p.*} on every hop.
+ *
+ * <p>Sharing has a second, opposite hazard on the <em>serialization</em> side: trace-level {@code
+ * _dd.p.*} must be emitted into a span's metadata only on the local root. Since children share the
+ * root's non-empty instance, {@code DDSpanContext.processTagsAndBaggage} gates the emit on span
+ * position — otherwise {@code _dd.p.dm} (and friends) would be duplicated onto every child span in
+ * the chunk, which the {@code test_sampling_span_tags} parametric test forbids. {@link
+ * #localChildDoesNotEmitTraceLevelDdpTags()} guards that direction.
+ */
+class PropagationTagsChildSpanTest extends DDCoreJavaSpecification {
+
+  private static final String INBOUND_HEADER = "_dd.p.dm=934086a686-4,_dd.p.anytag=value";
+  private static final String INBOUND_TAG = "_dd.p.anytag=value";
+
+  private CoreTracer tracer;
+
+  @BeforeEach
+  void setup() {
+    tracer = tracerBuilder().build();
+  }
+
+  private static ExtractedContext extractedWithDdpTags() {
+    return new ExtractedContext(
+        DDTraceId.ONE,
+        2,
+        PrioritySampling.SAMPLER_KEEP,
+        null,
+        0,
+        Collections.<String, String>emptyMap(),
+        Collections.<String, Object>emptyMap(),
+        null,
+        PropagationTags.factory()
+            .fromHeaderValue(PropagationTags.HeaderType.DATADOG, INBOUND_HEADER),
+        null,
+        DATADOG);
+  }
+
+  /** What the Datadog codec would inject for {@code x-datadog-tags} from this span. */
+  private static String injectedDdpHeader(AgentSpan span) {
+    return ((DDSpanContext) span.spanContext())
+        .getPropagationTags()
+        .headerValue(PropagationTags.HeaderType.DATADOG);
+  }
+
+  /** Baseline: the root span (built directly from the extracted context) carries inbound tags. */
+  @Test
+  void rootSpanCarriesInboundDdpTags() {
+    AgentSpan root = tracer.buildSpan("test", "root").asChildOf(extractedWithDdpTags()).start();
+    try {
+      String header = injectedDdpHeader(root);
+      assertTrue(
+          header != null && header.contains(INBOUND_TAG),
+          "root injected _dd.p.* header should contain inbound tag; was: " + header);
+    } finally {
+      root.finish();
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * THE open question: a local child of the root. Inbound {@code _dd.p.*} must survive injection
+   * from the child, or downstream services lose the distributed tags on every non-root hop.
+   */
+  @Test
+  void localChildCarriesInboundDdpTags() {
+    AgentSpan root = tracer.buildSpan("test", "root").asChildOf(extractedWithDdpTags()).start();
+    AgentSpan child = tracer.buildSpan("test", "child").asChildOf(root.spanContext()).start();
+    try {
+      String header = injectedDdpHeader(child);
+      assertTrue(
+          header != null && header.contains(INBOUND_TAG),
+          "local child injected _dd.p.* header should contain inbound tag; was: " + header);
+    } finally {
+      child.finish();
+      root.finish();
+    }
+  }
+
+  /** The trace-level {@code _dd.p.*} a span would emit into its serialized metadata (baggage). */
+  private static Map<String, String> emittedPropagationTags(AgentSpan span) {
+    CapturingConsumer consumer = new CapturingConsumer();
+    ((DDSpan) span).processTagsAndBaggage(consumer);
+    return consumer.metadata.getBaggage();
+  }
+
+  /** Serialization baseline: the local root emits the trace-level decision-maker tag. */
+  @Test
+  void rootSpanEmitsDecisionMakerTag() {
+    AgentSpan root = tracer.buildSpan("test", "root").asChildOf(extractedWithDdpTags()).start();
+    try {
+      Map<String, String> emitted = emittedPropagationTags(root);
+      assertTrue(
+          emitted.containsKey("_dd.p.dm"),
+          "root serialized metadata should carry _dd.p.dm; was: " + emitted);
+    } finally {
+      root.finish();
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Regression guard for the {@code test_sampling_span_tags} parametric test: a non-root (local
+   * child) span must not emit trace-level {@code _dd.p.*} into its serialized metadata. Because the
+   * child shares the root's {@link PropagationTags}, an ungated emit duplicates {@code _dd.p.dm}
+   * onto every child span in the chunk.
+   */
+  @Test
+  void localChildDoesNotEmitTraceLevelDdpTags() {
+    AgentSpan root = tracer.buildSpan("test", "root").asChildOf(extractedWithDdpTags()).start();
+    AgentSpan child = tracer.buildSpan("test", "child").asChildOf(root.spanContext()).start();
+    try {
+      Map<String, String> emitted = emittedPropagationTags(child);
+      assertFalse(
+          emitted.containsKey("_dd.p.dm"),
+          "local child serialized metadata must not carry trace-level _dd.p.dm; was: " + emitted);
+      assertFalse(
+          emitted.containsKey("_dd.p.anytag"),
+          "local child serialized metadata must not carry trace-level _dd.p.*; was: " + emitted);
+    } finally {
+      child.finish();
+      root.finish();
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static final class CapturingConsumer implements MetadataConsumer {
+    private Metadata metadata;
+
+    @Override
+    public void accept(Metadata metadata) {
+      this.metadata = metadata;
+    }
+  }
+}