fix(new_relic sink): Do not quote paths containing periods for the event API

[bruceg]

This could not be accomplished the same way as #21305 since the event API cannot handle nested JSON data. Instead, a new LogEvent::convert_to_fields_unquoted method was added to produce the flattened data without quoting.

[pront]

I don't like this change. This iterator now returns parsable paths which is the desirable behavior.

Are you looking for the old behavior of this iterator? Then I would add all_fields_unquoted, similar to all_fields_non_object_root.

[bruceg]

With quote_periods = true, the current behavior of the iterator is preserved, as demonstrated by the tests. It only changes the behavior when that parameter is false. I don't want the old behavior where periods are escaped neither, as that too caused problems in the new_relic sink.

[bruceg]

FWIW I am not opposed to adding a second all_fields_unquoted function as described, as that is what I originally had coded. I used a parameter instead since the two functions differ just in the value of the parameter, and all_fields is actually crate-local and so the change is entirely contained within vector-core.

[pront]

Plain bool parameters in utils can be an anti-pattern. Also, eventually all these iterator should return OwnedTargetPaths. Are the paths returned by this new iterator parsable with parse_target_path?

[bruceg]

I have split up the all_fields function. No, the unquoted paths are no longer parsable. Technically, I don't think the current paths are all parsable neither if they contain quotes since those are not escaped.

[datadog-vectordotdev]

Datadog Report

Branch report: bruceg/OPA-2327-fix-new-relic-event-quoting
Commit report: a03b8bc
Test service: vector

✅ 0 Failed, 7 Passed, 0 Skipped, 25.47s Total Time

[pront]

👍

[github-actions]

Regression Detector Results

Run ID: 489592f2-7b93-45ec-8332-51d7e37c3e99 Metrics dashboard

Baseline: 8238e5a
Comparison: 141ea8c

Performance changes are noted in the perf column of each table:

• ✅ = significantly better comparison variant performance
• ❌ = significantly worse comparison variant performance
• ➖ = no significant change in performance

No significant changes in experiment optimization goals

Confidence level: 90.00%
Effect size tolerance: |Δ mean %| ≥ 5.00%

There were no significant changes in experiment optimization goals at this confidence level and effect size tolerance.

Experiments ignored for regressions

Regressions in experiments with settings containing erratic: true are ignored.

perf	experiment	goal	Δ mean %	Δ mean % CI	links
✅	file_to_blackhole	egress throughput	+14.45	[+6.87, +22.03]

Fine details of change detection per experiment

perf	experiment	goal	Δ mean %	Δ mean % CI	links
✅	file_to_blackhole	egress throughput	+14.45	[+6.87, +22.03]
➖	http_text_to_http_json	ingress throughput	+3.89	[+3.78, +4.01]
➖	datadog_agent_remap_blackhole_acks	ingress throughput	+2.83	[+2.70, +2.95]
➖	socket_to_socket_blackhole	ingress throughput	+2.82	[+2.74, +2.89]
➖	otlp_http_to_blackhole	ingress throughput	+1.57	[+1.42, +1.72]
➖	syslog_humio_logs	ingress throughput	+1.51	[+1.39, +1.63]
➖	otlp_grpc_to_blackhole	ingress throughput	+1.38	[+1.26, +1.49]
➖	fluent_elasticsearch	ingress throughput	+1.18	[+0.69, +1.68]
➖	datadog_agent_remap_blackhole	ingress throughput	+0.96	[+0.84, +1.07]
➖	syslog_loki	ingress throughput	+0.91	[+0.82, +0.99]
➖	http_to_s3	ingress throughput	+0.49	[+0.21, +0.77]
➖	http_to_http_noack	ingress throughput	+0.10	[+0.04, +0.17]
➖	http_to_http_json	ingress throughput	+0.05	[+0.00, +0.10]
➖	splunk_hec_to_splunk_hec_logs_noack	ingress throughput	+0.01	[-0.08, +0.10]
➖	splunk_hec_to_splunk_hec_logs_acks	ingress throughput	-0.00	[-0.10, +0.10]
➖	splunk_hec_indexer_ack_blackhole	ingress throughput	-0.01	[-0.09, +0.07]
➖	datadog_agent_remap_datadog_logs	ingress throughput	-0.18	[-0.37, +0.00]
➖	syslog_log2metric_splunk_hec_metrics	ingress throughput	-0.24	[-0.35, -0.13]
➖	datadog_agent_remap_datadog_logs_acks	ingress throughput	-0.38	[-0.54, -0.21]
➖	syslog_log2metric_tag_cardinality_limit_blackhole	ingress throughput	-0.40	[-0.49, -0.31]
➖	http_to_http_acks	ingress throughput	-0.55	[-1.77, +0.68]
➖	syslog_splunk_hec_logs	ingress throughput	-0.60	[-0.69, -0.50]
➖	http_elasticsearch	ingress throughput	-2.20	[-2.39, -2.01]
➖	splunk_hec_route_s3	ingress throughput	-2.63	[-2.96, -2.30]
➖	syslog_log2metric_humio_metrics	ingress throughput	-2.65	[-2.76, -2.55]
➖	syslog_regex_logs2metric_ddmetrics	ingress throughput	-2.89	[-3.03, -2.75]

Explanation

A regression test is an A/B test of target performance in a repeatable rig, where "performance" is measured as "comparison variant minus baseline variant" for an optimization goal (e.g., ingress throughput). Due to intrinsic variability in measuring that goal, we can only estimate its mean value for each experiment; we report uncertainty in that value as a 90.00% confidence interval denoted "Δ mean % CI".

For each experiment, we decide whether a change in performance is a "regression" -- a change worth investigating further -- if all of the following criteria are true:

1. Its estimated |Δ mean %| ≥ 5.00%, indicating the change is big enough to merit a closer look.

2. Its 90.00% confidence interval "Δ mean % CI" does not contain zero, indicating that if our statistical model is accurate, there is at least a 90.00% chance there is a difference in performance between baseline and comparison variants.

3. Its configuration does not mark it "erratic".