In April 2026, delivered CRaC lifecycle integration test scaffolding for the OpenTelemetry Java SDK, establishing end-to-end validation of checkpoint and restore flows. Added test infrastructure, mock contexts, and integration test classes to verify correct span behavior during CRaC events. This work strengthens reliability of CRaC scenarios, expands test coverage, and provides a reusable foundation for ongoing CRaC testing and resilience.

March 2026 highlights: Delivered Stage 1 deprecation of OpenTracing compatibility requirements in the opentelemetry-specification, removing the obligation for new implementations while preserving backward-compatible shims. Updated specification and changelog to reflect deprecation and provided migration guidance. Prepared groundwork for future deprecation steps with historical framing in normative text. Validated documentation changes with local checks (markdownlint, markdown-toc, cspell) to ensure quality and consistency. This work reduces long-term maintenance overhead for implementations and clarifies the roadmap for compatibility, enabling teams to plan migrations with confidence.