Implement telegraf's own full metric type

main reasons behind this:
- make adding/removing tags cheap
- make adding/removing fields cheap
- make parsing cheaper
- make parse -> decorate -> write out bytes metric flow much faster

Refactor serializer to use byte buffer

agent/accumulator_test.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -323,7 +324,7 @@ func (tm *TestMetricMaker) MakeMetric(
 ) telegraf.Metric {
 	switch mType {
 	case telegraf.Untyped:
-		if m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(measurement, tags, fields, t); err == nil {
+		if m, err := metric.New(measurement, tags, fields, t); err == nil {
 			return m
 		}
 	case telegraf.Counter:

internal/models/makemetric.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 // makemetric is used by both RunningAggregator & RunningInput
@@ -135,16 +136,7 @@ func makemetric(
 		}
 	}
 
-	var m telegraf.Metric
+	m, err := metric.New(measurement, tags, fields, t, mType)
-	var err error
-	switch mType {
-	case telegraf.Counter:
-		m, err = telegraf.NewCounterMetric(measurement, tags, fields, t)
-	case telegraf.Gauge:
-		m, err = telegraf.NewGaugeMetric(measurement, tags, fields, t)
-	default:
-		m, err = telegraf.NewMetric(measurement, tags, fields, t)
-	}
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Printf("Error adding point [%s]: %s\n", measurement, err.Error())
 		return nil

internal/models/running_aggregator.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 type RunningAggregator struct {
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ func (r *RunningAggregator) Add(in telegraf.Metric) bool {
 			return false
 		}
 
-		in, _ = telegraf.NewMetric(name, tags, fields, t)
+		in, _ = metric.New(name, tags, fields, t)
 	}
 
 	r.metrics <- in

internal/models/running_output.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal/buffer"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -56,23 +57,23 @@ func NewRunningOutput(
 
 // AddMetric adds a metric to the output. This function can also write cached
 // points if FlushBufferWhenFull is true.
-func (ro *RunningOutput) AddMetric(metric telegraf.Metric) {
+func (ro *RunningOutput) AddMetric(m telegraf.Metric) {
 	// Filter any tagexclude/taginclude parameters before adding metric
 	if ro.Config.Filter.IsActive() {
 		// In order to filter out tags, we need to create a new metric, since
 		// metrics are immutable once created.
-		name := metric.Name()
+		name := m.Name()
-		tags := metric.Tags()
+		tags := m.Tags()
-		fields := metric.Fields()
+		fields := m.Fields()
-		t := metric.Time()
+		t := m.Time()
 		if ok := ro.Config.Filter.Apply(name, fields, tags); !ok {
 			return
 		}
 		// error is not possible if creating from another metric, so ignore.
-		metric, _ = telegraf.NewMetric(name, tags, fields, t)
+		m, _ = metric.New(name, tags, fields, t)
 	}
 
-	ro.metrics.Add(metric)
+	ro.metrics.Add(m)
 	if ro.metrics.Len() == ro.MetricBatchSize {
 		batch := ro.metrics.Batch(ro.MetricBatchSize)
 		err := ro.write(batch)

metric.go

@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ package telegraf
 import (
 	"time"
 
+	// TODO remove
 	"github.com/influxdata/influxdb/client/v2"
-	"github.com/influxdata/influxdb/models"
 )
 
 // ValueType is an enumeration of metric types that represent a simple value.
@@ -19,178 +19,40 @@ const (
 )
 
 type Metric interface {
-	// Name returns the measurement name of the metric
+	Serialize() []byte
+	String() string // convenience function for string(Serialize())
+	Copy() Metric
+
+	// Tag functions
+	HasTag(key string) bool
+	AddTag(key, value string)
+	RemoveTag(key string) bool
+
+	// Field functions
+	HasField(key string) bool
+	AddField(key string, value interface{})
+	RemoveField(key string) bool
+
+	// Name functions
+	SetName(name string)
+	SetPrefix(prefix string)
+	SetSuffix(suffix string)
+
+	// Getting data structure functions
 	Name() string
-
-	// Name returns the tags associated with the metric
 	Tags() map[string]string
-
+	Fields() map[string]interface{}
-	// Time return the timestamp for the metric
 	Time() time.Time
-
-	// Type returns the metric type. Can be either telegraf.Gauge or telegraf.Counter
-	Type() ValueType
-
-	// UnixNano returns the unix nano time of the metric
 	UnixNano() int64
-
+	Type() ValueType
-	// HashID returns a non-cryptographic hash of the metric (name + tags)
+	Len() int // returns the length of the serialized metric, including newline
-	// NOTE: do not persist & depend on this value to disk.
 	HashID() uint64
 
-	// Fields returns the fields for the metric
+	// aggregator things:
-	Fields() map[string]interface{}
-
-	// String returns a line-protocol string of the metric
-	String() string
-
-	// PrecisionString returns a line-protocol string of the metric, at precision
-	PrecisionString(precison string) string
-
-	// Point returns a influxdb client.Point object
-	Point() *client.Point
-
-	// SetAggregate sets the metric's aggregate status
-	// This is so that aggregate metrics don't get re-sent to aggregator plugins
 	SetAggregate(bool)
-	// IsAggregate returns true if the metric is an aggregate
 	IsAggregate() bool
 
-	// Copy copies the metric
+	// Point returns a influxdb client.Point object
-	Copy() Metric
+	// TODO remove this function
-}
+	Point() *client.Point
-
-// metric is a wrapper of the influxdb client.Point struct
-type metric struct {
-	pt models.Point
-
-	mType ValueType
-
-	isaggregate bool
-}
-
-func NewMetricFromPoint(pt models.Point) Metric {
-	return &metric{
-		pt:    pt,
-		mType: Untyped,
-	}
-}
-
-// NewMetric returns an untyped metric.
-func NewMetric(
-	name string,
-	tags map[string]string,
-	fields map[string]interface{},
-	t time.Time,
-) (Metric, error) {
-	pt, err := models.NewPoint(name, models.NewTags(tags), fields, t)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return &metric{
-		pt:    pt,
-		mType: Untyped,
-	}, nil
-}
-
-// NewGaugeMetric returns a gauge metric.
-// Gauge metrics should be used when the metric is can arbitrarily go up and
-// down. ie, temperature, memory usage, cpu usage, etc.
-func NewGaugeMetric(
-	name string,
-	tags map[string]string,
-	fields map[string]interface{},
-	t time.Time,
-) (Metric, error) {
-	pt, err := models.NewPoint(name, models.NewTags(tags), fields, t)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return &metric{
-		pt:    pt,
-		mType: Gauge,
-	}, nil
-}
-
-// NewCounterMetric returns a Counter metric.
-// Counter metrics should be used when the metric being created is an
-// always-increasing counter. ie, net bytes received, requests served, errors, etc.
-func NewCounterMetric(
-	name string,
-	tags map[string]string,
-	fields map[string]interface{},
-	t time.Time,
-) (Metric, error) {
-	pt, err := models.NewPoint(name, models.NewTags(tags), fields, t)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return &metric{
-		pt:    pt,
-		mType: Counter,
-	}, nil
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Name() string {
-	return m.pt.Name()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Tags() map[string]string {
-	return m.pt.Tags().Map()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Time() time.Time {
-	return m.pt.Time()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Type() ValueType {
-	return m.mType
-}
-
-func (m *metric) HashID() uint64 {
-	return m.pt.HashID()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) UnixNano() int64 {
-	return m.pt.UnixNano()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Fields() map[string]interface{} {
-	return m.pt.Fields()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) String() string {
-	return m.pt.String()
-}
-
-func (m *metric) PrecisionString(precison string) string {
-	return m.pt.PrecisionString(precison)
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Point() *client.Point {
-	return client.NewPointFrom(m.pt)
-}
-
-func (m *metric) IsAggregate() bool {
-	return m.isaggregate
-}
-
-func (m *metric) SetAggregate(b bool) {
-	m.isaggregate = b
-}
-
-func (m *metric) Copy() Metric {
-	t := time.Time(m.Time())
-
-	tags := make(map[string]string)
-	fields := make(map[string]interface{})
-	for k, v := range m.Tags() {
-		tags[k] = v
-	}
-	for k, v := range m.Fields() {
-		fields[k] = v
-	}
-
-	out, _ := NewMetric(m.Name(), tags, fields, t)
-	return out
 }

metric/inline_strconv_parse.go

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package metric
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"strconv"
+	"unsafe"
+)
+
+// parseIntBytes is a zero-alloc wrapper around strconv.ParseInt.
+func parseIntBytes(b []byte, base int, bitSize int) (i int64, err error) {
+	s := unsafeBytesToString(b)
+	return strconv.ParseInt(s, base, bitSize)
+}
+
+// parseFloatBytes is a zero-alloc wrapper around strconv.ParseFloat.
+func parseFloatBytes(b []byte, bitSize int) (float64, error) {
+	s := unsafeBytesToString(b)
+	return strconv.ParseFloat(s, bitSize)
+}
+
+// parseBoolBytes is a zero-alloc wrapper around strconv.ParseBool.
+func parseBoolBytes(b []byte) (bool, error) {
+	return strconv.ParseBool(unsafeBytesToString(b))
+}
+
+// unsafeBytesToString converts a []byte to a string without a heap allocation.
+//
+// It is unsafe, and is intended to prepare input to short-lived functions
+// that require strings.
+func unsafeBytesToString(in []byte) string {
+	src := *(*reflect.SliceHeader)(unsafe.Pointer(&in))
+	dst := reflect.StringHeader{
+		Data: src.Data,
+		Len:  src.Len,
+	}
+	s := *(*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&dst))
+	return s
+}

metric/metric.go

@@ -0,0 +1,455 @@
+package metric
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"hash/fnv"
+	"sort"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+
+	// TODO remove
+	"github.com/influxdata/influxdb/client/v2"
+)
+
+var (
+	// escaper is for escaping:
+	//   - tag keys
+	//   - tag values
+	//   - field keys
+	// see https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.0/write_protocols/line_protocol_tutorial/#special-characters-and-keywords
+	escaper = strings.NewReplacer(`,`, `\,`, `"`, `\"`, ` `, `\ `, `=`, `\=`)
+
+	// nameEscaper is for escaping measurement names only.
+	// see https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.0/write_protocols/line_protocol_tutorial/#special-characters-and-keywords
+	nameEscaper = strings.NewReplacer(`,`, `\,`, ` `, `\ `)
+
+	// stringFieldEscaper is for escaping string field values only.
+	// see https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.0/write_protocols/line_protocol_tutorial/#special-characters-and-keywords
+	stringFieldEscaper = strings.NewReplacer(`"`, `\"`)
+)
+
+func New(
+	name string,
+	tags map[string]string,
+	fields map[string]interface{},
+	t time.Time,
+	mType ...telegraf.ValueType,
+) (telegraf.Metric, error) {
+	if len(fields) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Metric cannot be made without any fields")
+	}
+
+	var thisType telegraf.ValueType
+	if len(mType) > 0 {
+		thisType = mType[0]
+	} else {
+		thisType = telegraf.Untyped
+	}
+
+	m := &metric{
+		name:  []byte(nameEscaper.Replace(name)),
+		t:     []byte(fmt.Sprint(t.UnixNano())),
+		nsec:  t.UnixNano(),
+		mType: thisType,
+	}
+
+	m.tags = []byte{}
+	for k, v := range tags {
+		m.tags = append(m.tags, []byte(","+escaper.Replace(k))...)
+		m.tags = append(m.tags, []byte("="+escaper.Replace(v))...)
+	}
+
+	m.fields = []byte{' '}
+	i := 0
+	for k, v := range fields {
+		if i != 0 {
+			m.fields = append(m.fields, ',')
+		}
+		m.fields = appendField(m.fields, k, v)
+		i++
+	}
+	m.fields = append(m.fields, ' ')
+
+	return m, nil
+}
+
+// indexUnescapedByte finds the index of the first byte equal to b in buf that
+// is not escaped. Returns -1 if not found.
+func indexUnescapedByte(buf []byte, b byte) int {
+	var keyi int
+	for {
+		i := bytes.IndexByte(buf[keyi:], b)
+		if i == -1 {
+			return -1
+		} else if i == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		keyi += i
+		if countBackslashes(buf, keyi-1)%2 == 0 {
+			break
+		} else {
+			keyi++
+		}
+	}
+	return keyi
+}
+
+// countBackslashes counts the number of preceding backslashes starting at
+// the 'start' index.
+func countBackslashes(buf []byte, index int) int {
+	var count int
+	for {
+		if buf[index] == '\\' {
+			count++
+			index--
+		} else {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return count
+}
+
+type metric struct {
+	name   []byte
+	tags   []byte
+	fields []byte
+	t      []byte
+
+	mType     telegraf.ValueType
+	aggregate bool
+
+	// cached values for reuse in "get" functions
+	hashID   uint64
+	nsec     int64
+	fieldMap map[string]interface{}
+	tagMap   map[string]string
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Point() *client.Point {
+	return &client.Point{}
+}
+
+func (m *metric) String() string {
+	return string(m.Serialize())
+}
+
+func (m *metric) SetAggregate(b bool) {
+	m.aggregate = b
+}
+
+func (m *metric) IsAggregate() bool {
+	return m.aggregate
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Type() telegraf.ValueType {
+	return m.mType
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Len() int {
+	return len(m.name) + len(m.tags) + len(m.fields) + len(m.t) + 1
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Serialize() []byte {
+	tmp := make([]byte, m.Len())
+	copy(tmp, m.name)
+	copy(tmp[len(m.name):], m.tags)
+	copy(tmp[len(m.name)+len(m.tags):], m.fields)
+	copy(tmp[len(m.name)+len(m.tags)+len(m.fields):], m.t)
+	tmp[len(tmp)-1] = '\n'
+	return tmp
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Fields() map[string]interface{} {
+	if m.fieldMap != nil {
+		// TODO should we return a copy?
+		return m.fieldMap
+	}
+
+	m.fieldMap = map[string]interface{}{}
+	i := 1
+	for {
+		if i >= len(m.fields) {
+			break
+		}
+		// end index of field key
+		i1 := indexUnescapedByte(m.fields[i:], '=')
+		if i1 == -1 {
+			break
+		}
+		// start index of field value
+		i2 := i1 + 1
+		// end index of field value
+		i3 := indexUnescapedByte(m.fields[i:], ',')
+		if i3 == -1 {
+			i3 = len(m.fields[i:]) - 1
+		}
+
+		switch m.fields[i:][i2] {
+		case '"':
+			// string field
+			m.fieldMap[string(m.fields[i:][0:i1])] = string(m.fields[i:][i2+1 : i3-1])
+		case '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9':
+			// number field
+			switch m.fields[i:][i3-1] {
+			case 'i':
+				// integer field
+				n, err := strconv.ParseInt(string(m.fields[i:][i2:i3-1]), 10, 64)
+				if err == nil {
+					m.fieldMap[string(m.fields[i:][0:i1])] = n
+				} else {
+					// TODO handle error or just ignore field silently?
+				}
+			default:
+				// float field
+				n, err := strconv.ParseFloat(string(m.fields[i:][i2:i3]), 64)
+				if err == nil {
+					m.fieldMap[string(m.fields[i:][0:i1])] = n
+				} else {
+					// TODO handle error or just ignore field silently?
+				}
+			}
+		case 'T', 't':
+			// TODO handle "true" booleans
+		case 'F', 'f':
+			// TODO handle "false" booleans
+		default:
+			// TODO handle unsupported field type
+		}
+
+		i += i3 + 1
+	}
+
+	return m.fieldMap
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Tags() map[string]string {
+	if m.tagMap != nil {
+		// TODO should we return a copy?
+		return m.tagMap
+	}
+
+	m.tagMap = map[string]string{}
+	if len(m.tags) == 0 {
+		return m.tagMap
+	}
+
+	i := 0
+	for {
+		// start index of tag key
+		i0 := indexUnescapedByte(m.tags[i:], ',') + 1
+		if i0 == 0 {
+			// didn't find a tag start
+			break
+		}
+		// end index of tag key
+		i1 := indexUnescapedByte(m.tags[i:], '=')
+		// start index of tag value
+		i2 := i1 + 1
+		// end index of tag value (starting from i2)
+		i3 := indexUnescapedByte(m.tags[i+i2:], ',')
+		if i3 == -1 {
+			m.tagMap[string(m.tags[i:][i0:i1])] = string(m.tags[i:][i2:])
+			break
+		}
+		m.tagMap[string(m.tags[i:][i0:i1])] = string(m.tags[i:][i2 : i2+i3])
+		// increment start index for the next tag
+		i += i2 + i3
+	}
+
+	return m.tagMap
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Name() string {
+	return string(m.name)
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Time() time.Time {
+	// assume metric has been verified already and ignore error:
+	if m.nsec == 0 {
+		m.nsec, _ = strconv.ParseInt(string(m.t), 10, 64)
+	}
+	return time.Unix(0, m.nsec)
+}
+
+func (m *metric) UnixNano() int64 {
+	// assume metric has been verified already and ignore error:
+	if m.nsec == 0 {
+		m.nsec, _ = strconv.ParseInt(string(m.t), 10, 64)
+	}
+	return m.nsec
+}
+
+func (m *metric) SetName(name string) {
+	m.name = []byte(nameEscaper.Replace(name))
+}
+func (m *metric) SetPrefix(prefix string) {
+	m.name = append([]byte(nameEscaper.Replace(prefix)), m.name...)
+}
+func (m *metric) SetSuffix(suffix string) {
+	m.name = append(m.name, []byte(nameEscaper.Replace(suffix))...)
+}
+
+func (m *metric) AddTag(key, value string) {
+	m.RemoveTag(key)
+	m.tags = append(m.tags, []byte(","+escaper.Replace(key)+"="+escaper.Replace(value))...)
+}
+
+func (m *metric) HasTag(key string) bool {
+	i := bytes.Index(m.tags, []byte(escaper.Replace(key)+"="))
+	if i == -1 {
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+func (m *metric) RemoveTag(key string) bool {
+	m.tagMap = nil
+	m.hashID = 0
+	i := bytes.Index(m.tags, []byte(escaper.Replace(key)+"="))
+	if i == -1 {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	tmp := m.tags[0 : i-1]
+	j := indexUnescapedByte(m.tags[i:], ',')
+	if j != -1 {
+		tmp = append(tmp, m.tags[i+j:]...)
+	}
+	m.tags = tmp
+	return true
+}
+
+func (m *metric) AddField(key string, value interface{}) {
+	m.fieldMap = nil
+	m.fields = append(m.fields, ',')
+	appendField(m.fields, key, value)
+}
+
+func (m *metric) HasField(key string) bool {
+	i := bytes.Index(m.fields, []byte(escaper.Replace(key)+"="))
+	if i == -1 {
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+func (m *metric) RemoveField(key string) bool {
+	m.fieldMap = nil
+	m.hashID = 0
+	i := bytes.Index(m.fields, []byte(escaper.Replace(key)+"="))
+	if i == -1 {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	tmp := m.fields[0 : i-1]
+	j := indexUnescapedByte(m.fields[i:], ',')
+	if j != -1 {
+		tmp = append(tmp, m.fields[i+j:]...)
+	}
+	m.fields = tmp
+	return true
+}
+
+func (m *metric) Copy() telegraf.Metric {
+	name := make([]byte, len(m.name))
+	tags := make([]byte, len(m.tags))
+	fields := make([]byte, len(m.fields))
+	t := make([]byte, len(m.t))
+	copy(name, m.name)
+	copy(tags, m.tags)
+	copy(fields, m.fields)
+	copy(t, m.t)
+	return &metric{
+		name:   name,
+		tags:   tags,
+		fields: fields,
+		t:      t,
+		hashID: m.hashID,
+	}
+}
+
+func (m *metric) HashID() uint64 {
+	if m.hashID == 0 {
+		h := fnv.New64a()
+		h.Write(m.name)
+
+		tags := m.Tags()
+		tmp := make([]string, len(tags))
+		i := 0
+		for k, v := range tags {
+			tmp[i] = k + v
+			i++
+		}
+		sort.Strings(tmp)
+
+		for _, s := range tmp {
+			h.Write([]byte(s))
+		}
+
+		m.hashID = h.Sum64()
+	}
+	return m.hashID
+}
+
+func appendField(b []byte, k string, v interface{}) []byte {
+	b = append(b, []byte(escaper.Replace(k)+"=")...)
+
+	// check popular types first
+	switch v := v.(type) {
+	case float64:
+		b = strconv.AppendFloat(b, v, 'f', -1, 64)
+	case int64:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, v, 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case string:
+		b = append(b, '"')
+		b = append(b, []byte(stringFieldEscaper.Replace(v))...)
+		b = append(b, '"')
+	case bool:
+		b = strconv.AppendBool(b, v)
+	case int32:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case int16:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case int8:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case int:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case uint32:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case uint16:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case uint8:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	// TODO: 'uint' should be considered just as "dangerous" as a uint64,
+	// perhaps the value should be checked and capped at MaxInt64? We could
+	// then include uint64 as an accepted value
+	case uint:
+		b = strconv.AppendInt(b, int64(v), 10)
+		b = append(b, 'i')
+	case float32:
+		b = strconv.AppendFloat(b, float64(v), 'f', -1, 32)
+	case []byte:
+		b = append(b, v...)
+	case nil:
+		// skip
+	default:
+		// Can't determine the type, so convert to string
+		b = append(b, '"')
+		b = append(b, []byte(stringFieldEscaper.Replace(fmt.Sprintf("%v", v)))...)
+		b = append(b, '"')
+	}
+
+	return b
+}

metric/metric_benchmark_test.go

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package telegraf
+package metric
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
@@ -118,3 +118,24 @@ func BenchmarkSerializeMetric(b *testing.B) {
 	}
 	s = S
 }
+
+func BenchmarkSerializeMetricBytes(b *testing.B) {
+	mt, _ := NewMetric("test_metric",
+		map[string]string{
+			"test_tag_1": "tag_value_1",
+			"test_tag_2": "tag_value_2",
+			"test_tag_3": "tag_value_3",
+		},
+		map[string]interface{}{
+			"string_field": "string",
+			"int_field":    int64(1000),
+			"float_field":  float64(2.1),
+		},
+		time.Now(),
+	)
+	var B []byte
+	for n := 0; n < b.N; n++ {
+		B = mt.Serialize()
+	}
+	s = string(B)
+}

metric/metric_test.go

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package telegraf
+package metric
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ func TestNewMetric(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": float64(99),
 		"usage_busy": float64(1),
 	}
-	m, err := NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, Untyped, m.Type())
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func TestNewGaugeMetric(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": float64(99),
 		"usage_busy": float64(1),
 	}
-	m, err := NewGaugeMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := New("cpu", tags, fields, now, Gauge)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, Gauge, m.Type())
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ func TestNewCounterMetric(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": float64(99),
 		"usage_busy": float64(1),
 	}
-	m, err := NewCounterMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := New("cpu", tags, fields, now, Counter)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	assert.Equal(t, Counter, m.Type())
@@ -84,16 +84,12 @@ func TestNewMetricString(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(99),
 	}
-	m, err := NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
-	lineProto := fmt.Sprintf("cpu,host=localhost usage_idle=99 %d",
+	lineProto := fmt.Sprintf("cpu,host=localhost usage_idle=99 %d\n",
 		now.UnixNano())
 	assert.Equal(t, lineProto, m.String())
-
-	lineProtoPrecision := fmt.Sprintf("cpu,host=localhost usage_idle=99 %d",
-		now.Unix())
-	assert.Equal(t, lineProtoPrecision, m.PrecisionString("s"))
 }
 
 func TestNewMetricFailNaN(t *testing.T) {
@@ -106,6 +102,6 @@ func TestNewMetricFailNaN(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": math.NaN(),
 	}
 
-	_, err := NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	_, err := New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
-	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
 }

metric/parse.go

@@ -0,0 +1,624 @@
+package metric
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+)
+
+var (
+	ErrInvalidNumber = errors.New("invalid number")
+)
+
+const (
+	// the number of characters for the largest possible int64 (9223372036854775807)
+	maxInt64Digits = 19
+
+	// the number of characters for the smallest possible int64 (-9223372036854775808)
+	minInt64Digits = 20
+
+	// the number of characters required for the largest float64 before a range check
+	// would occur during parsing
+	maxFloat64Digits = 25
+
+	// the number of characters required for smallest float64 before a range check occur
+	// would occur during parsing
+	minFloat64Digits = 27
+
+	MaxKeyLength = 65535
+)
+
+// The following constants allow us to specify which state to move to
+// next, when scanning sections of a Point.
+const (
+	tagKeyState = iota
+	tagValueState
+	fieldsState
+)
+
+func Parse(buf []byte) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
+	return ParseWithDefaultTime(buf, time.Now())
+}
+
+func ParseWithDefaultTime(buf []byte, t time.Time) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
+	metrics := make([]telegraf.Metric, 0, bytes.Count(buf, []byte("\n"))+1)
+	var (
+		errStr string
+		line   []byte
+		err    error
+	)
+	b := bytes.NewBuffer(buf)
+	for {
+		line, err = b.ReadBytes('\n')
+		if err != nil {
+			break
+		}
+		if len(line) < 2 {
+			continue
+		}
+		// trim the newline:
+		line = line[0 : len(line)-1]
+
+		m, err := parseMetric(line, t)
+		if err != nil {
+			errStr += " " + err.Error()
+			continue
+		}
+
+		metrics = append(metrics, m)
+	}
+
+	if len(errStr) > 0 {
+		return metrics, fmt.Errorf(errStr)
+	}
+	return metrics, nil
+}
+
+func parseMetric(buf []byte, defaultTime time.Time) (telegraf.Metric, error) {
+	var dTime string
+	// scan the first block which is measurement[,tag1=value1,tag2=value=2...]
+	pos, key, err := scanKey(buf, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// measurement name is required
+	if len(key) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing measurement")
+	}
+
+	if len(key) > MaxKeyLength {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("max key length exceeded: %v > %v", len(key), MaxKeyLength)
+	}
+
+	// scan the second block is which is field1=value1[,field2=value2,...]
+	pos, fields, err := scanFields(buf, pos)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// at least one field is required
+	if len(fields) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing fields")
+	}
+
+	// scan the last block which is an optional integer timestamp
+	pos, ts, err := scanTime(buf, pos)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	m := &metric{
+		fields: fields,
+		t:      ts,
+	}
+
+	// parse out the measurement name
+	// namei is the index at which the "name" ends
+	namei := indexUnescapedByte(key, ',')
+	if namei < 1 {
+		// no tags
+		m.name = key
+	} else {
+		m.name = key[0:namei]
+		m.tags = key[namei:]
+	}
+
+	if len(m.t) == 0 {
+		if len(dTime) == 0 {
+			dTime = fmt.Sprint(defaultTime.UnixNano())
+		}
+		// use default time
+		m.t = []byte(dTime)
+	}
+
+	return m, nil
+}
+
+// scanKey scans buf starting at i for the measurement and tag portion of the point.
+// It returns the ending position and the byte slice of key within buf.  If there
+// are tags, they will be sorted if they are not already.
+func scanKey(buf []byte, i int) (int, []byte, error) {
+	start := skipWhitespace(buf, i)
+	i = start
+
+	// First scan the Point's measurement.
+	state, i, err := scanMeasurement(buf, i)
+	if err != nil {
+		return i, buf[start:i], err
+	}
+
+	// Optionally scan tags if needed.
+	if state == tagKeyState {
+		i, err = scanTags(buf, i)
+		if err != nil {
+			return i, buf[start:i], err
+		}
+	}
+
+	return i, buf[start:i], nil
+}
+
+// scanMeasurement examines the measurement part of a Point, returning
+// the next state to move to, and the current location in the buffer.
+func scanMeasurement(buf []byte, i int) (int, int, error) {
+	// Check first byte of measurement, anything except a comma is fine.
+	// It can't be a space, since whitespace is stripped prior to this
+	// function call.
+	if i >= len(buf) || buf[i] == ',' {
+		return -1, i, fmt.Errorf("missing measurement")
+	}
+
+	for {
+		i++
+		if i >= len(buf) {
+			// cpu
+			return -1, i, fmt.Errorf("missing fields")
+		}
+
+		if buf[i-1] == '\\' {
+			// Skip character (it's escaped).
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Unescaped comma; move onto scanning the tags.
+		if buf[i] == ',' {
+			return tagKeyState, i + 1, nil
+		}
+
+		// Unescaped space; move onto scanning the fields.
+		if buf[i] == ' ' {
+			// cpu value=1.0
+			return fieldsState, i, nil
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// scanTags examines all the tags in a Point, keeping track of and
+// returning the updated indices slice, number of commas and location
+// in buf where to start examining the Point fields.
+func scanTags(buf []byte, i int) (int, error) {
+	var (
+		err   error
+		state = tagKeyState
+	)
+
+	for {
+		switch state {
+		case tagKeyState:
+			i, err = scanTagsKey(buf, i)
+			state = tagValueState // tag value always follows a tag key
+		case tagValueState:
+			state, i, err = scanTagsValue(buf, i)
+		case fieldsState:
+			return i, nil
+		}
+
+		if err != nil {
+			return i, err
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// scanTagsKey scans each character in a tag key.
+func scanTagsKey(buf []byte, i int) (int, error) {
+	// First character of the key.
+	if i >= len(buf) || buf[i] == ' ' || buf[i] == ',' || buf[i] == '=' {
+		// cpu,{'', ' ', ',', '='}
+		return i, fmt.Errorf("missing tag key")
+	}
+
+	// Examine each character in the tag key until we hit an unescaped
+	// equals (the tag value), or we hit an error (i.e., unescaped
+	// space or comma).
+	for {
+		i++
+
+		// Either we reached the end of the buffer or we hit an
+		// unescaped comma or space.
+		if i >= len(buf) ||
+			((buf[i] == ' ' || buf[i] == ',') && buf[i-1] != '\\') {
+			// cpu,tag{'', ' ', ','}
+			return i, fmt.Errorf("missing tag value")
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == '=' && buf[i-1] != '\\' {
+			// cpu,tag=
+			return i + 1, nil
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// scanTagsValue scans each character in a tag value.
+func scanTagsValue(buf []byte, i int) (int, int, error) {
+	// Tag value cannot be empty.
+	if i >= len(buf) || buf[i] == ',' || buf[i] == ' ' {
+		// cpu,tag={',', ' '}
+		return -1, i, fmt.Errorf("missing tag value")
+	}
+
+	// Examine each character in the tag value until we hit an unescaped
+	// comma (move onto next tag key), an unescaped space (move onto
+	// fields), or we error out.
+	for {
+		i++
+		if i >= len(buf) {
+			// cpu,tag=value
+			return -1, i, fmt.Errorf("missing fields")
+		}
+
+		// An unescaped equals sign is an invalid tag value.
+		if buf[i] == '=' && buf[i-1] != '\\' {
+			// cpu,tag={'=', 'fo=o'}
+			return -1, i, fmt.Errorf("invalid tag format")
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == ',' && buf[i-1] != '\\' {
+			// cpu,tag=foo,
+			return tagKeyState, i + 1, nil
+		}
+
+		// cpu,tag=foo value=1.0
+		// cpu, tag=foo\= value=1.0
+		if buf[i] == ' ' && buf[i-1] != '\\' {
+			return fieldsState, i, nil
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// scanFields scans buf, starting at i for the fields section of a point.  It returns
+// the ending position and the byte slice of the fields within buf
+func scanFields(buf []byte, i int) (int, []byte, error) {
+	start := skipWhitespace(buf, i)
+	i = start
+	quoted := false
+
+	// tracks how many '=' we've seen
+	equals := 0
+
+	// tracks how many commas we've seen
+	commas := 0
+
+	for {
+		// reached the end of buf?
+		if i >= len(buf) {
+			break
+		}
+
+		// escaped characters?
+		if buf[i] == '\\' && i+1 < len(buf) {
+			i += 2
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// If the value is quoted, scan until we get to the end quote
+		// Only quote values in the field value since quotes are not significant
+		// in the field key
+		if buf[i] == '"' && equals > commas {
+			quoted = !quoted
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// If we see an =, ensure that there is at least on char before and after it
+		if buf[i] == '=' && !quoted {
+			equals++
+
+			// check for "... =123" but allow "a\ =123"
+			if buf[i-1] == ' ' && buf[i-2] != '\\' {
+				return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("missing field key")
+			}
+
+			// check for "...a=123,=456" but allow "a=123,a\,=456"
+			if buf[i-1] == ',' && buf[i-2] != '\\' {
+				return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("missing field key")
+			}
+
+			// check for "... value="
+			if i+1 >= len(buf) {
+				return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("missing field value")
+			}
+
+			// check for "... value=,value2=..."
+			if buf[i+1] == ',' || buf[i+1] == ' ' {
+				return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("missing field value")
+			}
+
+			if isNumeric(buf[i+1]) || buf[i+1] == '-' || buf[i+1] == 'N' || buf[i+1] == 'n' {
+				var err error
+				i, err = scanNumber(buf, i+1)
+				if err != nil {
+					return i, buf[start:i], err
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+			// If next byte is not a double-quote, the value must be a boolean
+			if buf[i+1] != '"' {
+				var err error
+				i, _, err = scanBoolean(buf, i+1)
+				if err != nil {
+					return i, buf[start:i], err
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == ',' && !quoted {
+			commas++
+		}
+
+		// reached end of block?
+		if buf[i] == ' ' && !quoted {
+			break
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+
+	if quoted {
+		return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("unbalanced quotes")
+	}
+
+	// check that all field sections had key and values (e.g. prevent "a=1,b"
+	if equals == 0 || commas != equals-1 {
+		return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("invalid field format")
+	}
+
+	return i, buf[start:i], nil
+}
+
+// scanTime scans buf, starting at i for the time section of a point. It
+// returns the ending position and the byte slice of the timestamp within buf
+// and and error if the timestamp is not in the correct numeric format.
+func scanTime(buf []byte, i int) (int, []byte, error) {
+	start := skipWhitespace(buf, i)
+	i = start
+
+	for {
+		// reached the end of buf?
+		if i >= len(buf) {
+			break
+		}
+
+		// Reached end of block or trailing whitespace?
+		if buf[i] == '\n' || buf[i] == ' ' {
+			break
+		}
+
+		// Handle negative timestamps
+		if i == start && buf[i] == '-' {
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Timestamps should be integers, make sure they are so we don't need
+		// to actually  parse the timestamp until needed.
+		if buf[i] < '0' || buf[i] > '9' {
+			return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("bad timestamp")
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+	return i, buf[start:i], nil
+}
+
+func isNumeric(b byte) bool {
+	return (b >= '0' && b <= '9') || b == '.'
+}
+
+// scanNumber returns the end position within buf, start at i after
+// scanning over buf for an integer, or float.  It returns an
+// error if a invalid number is scanned.
+func scanNumber(buf []byte, i int) (int, error) {
+	start := i
+	var isInt bool
+
+	// Is negative number?
+	if i < len(buf) && buf[i] == '-' {
+		i++
+		// There must be more characters now, as just '-' is illegal.
+		if i == len(buf) {
+			return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+		}
+	}
+
+	// how many decimal points we've see
+	decimal := false
+
+	// indicates the number is float in scientific notation
+	scientific := false
+
+	for {
+		if i >= len(buf) {
+			break
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == ',' || buf[i] == ' ' {
+			break
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == 'i' && i > start && !isInt {
+			isInt = true
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == '.' {
+			// Can't have more than 1 decimal (e.g. 1.1.1 should fail)
+			if decimal {
+				return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+			}
+			decimal = true
+		}
+
+		// `e` is valid for floats but not as the first char
+		if i > start && (buf[i] == 'e' || buf[i] == 'E') {
+			scientific = true
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// + and - are only valid at this point if they follow an e (scientific notation)
+		if (buf[i] == '+' || buf[i] == '-') && (buf[i-1] == 'e' || buf[i-1] == 'E') {
+			i++
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// NaN is an unsupported value
+		if i+2 < len(buf) && (buf[i] == 'N' || buf[i] == 'n') {
+			return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+		}
+
+		if !isNumeric(buf[i]) {
+			return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+
+	if isInt && (decimal || scientific) {
+		return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+	}
+
+	numericDigits := i - start
+	if isInt {
+		numericDigits--
+	}
+	if decimal {
+		numericDigits--
+	}
+	if buf[start] == '-' {
+		numericDigits--
+	}
+
+	if numericDigits == 0 {
+		return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+	}
+
+	// It's more common that numbers will be within min/max range for their type but we need to prevent
+	// out or range numbers from being parsed successfully.  This uses some simple heuristics to decide
+	// if we should parse the number to the actual type.  It does not do it all the time because it incurs
+	// extra allocations and we end up converting the type again when writing points to disk.
+	if isInt {
+		// Make sure the last char is an 'i' for integers (e.g. 9i10 is not valid)
+		if buf[i-1] != 'i' {
+			return i, ErrInvalidNumber
+		}
+		// Parse the int to check bounds the number of digits could be larger than the max range
+		// We subtract 1 from the index to remove the `i` from our tests
+		if len(buf[start:i-1]) >= maxInt64Digits || len(buf[start:i-1]) >= minInt64Digits {
+			if _, err := parseIntBytes(buf[start:i-1], 10, 64); err != nil {
+				return i, fmt.Errorf("unable to parse integer %s: %s", buf[start:i-1], err)
+			}
+		}
+	} else {
+		// Parse the float to check bounds if it's scientific or the number of digits could be larger than the max range
+		if scientific || len(buf[start:i]) >= maxFloat64Digits || len(buf[start:i]) >= minFloat64Digits {
+			if _, err := parseFloatBytes(buf[start:i], 10); err != nil {
+				return i, fmt.Errorf("invalid float")
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return i, nil
+}
+
+// scanBoolean returns the end position within buf, start at i after
+// scanning over buf for boolean. Valid values for a boolean are
+// t, T, true, TRUE, f, F, false, FALSE. It returns an error if a invalid boolean
+// is scanned.
+func scanBoolean(buf []byte, i int) (int, []byte, error) {
+	start := i
+
+	if i < len(buf) && (buf[i] != 't' && buf[i] != 'f' && buf[i] != 'T' && buf[i] != 'F') {
+		return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("invalid boolean")
+	}
+
+	i++
+	for {
+		if i >= len(buf) {
+			break
+		}
+
+		if buf[i] == ',' || buf[i] == ' ' {
+			break
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+
+	// Single char bool (t, T, f, F) is ok
+	if i-start == 1 {
+		return i, buf[start:i], nil
+	}
+
+	// length must be 4 for true or TRUE
+	if (buf[start] == 't' || buf[start] == 'T') && i-start != 4 {
+		return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("invalid boolean")
+	}
+
+	// length must be 5 for false or FALSE
+	if (buf[start] == 'f' || buf[start] == 'F') && i-start != 5 {
+		return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("invalid boolean")
+	}
+
+	// Otherwise
+	valid := false
+	switch buf[start] {
+	case 't':
+		valid = bytes.Equal(buf[start:i], []byte("true"))
+	case 'f':
+		valid = bytes.Equal(buf[start:i], []byte("false"))
+	case 'T':
+		valid = bytes.Equal(buf[start:i], []byte("TRUE")) || bytes.Equal(buf[start:i], []byte("True"))
+	case 'F':
+		valid = bytes.Equal(buf[start:i], []byte("FALSE")) || bytes.Equal(buf[start:i], []byte("False"))
+	}
+
+	if !valid {
+		return i, buf[start:i], fmt.Errorf("invalid boolean")
+	}
+
+	return i, buf[start:i], nil
+
+}
+
+// skipWhitespace returns the end position within buf, starting at i after
+// scanning over spaces in tags
+func skipWhitespace(buf []byte, i int) int {
+	for i < len(buf) {
+		if buf[i] != ' ' && buf[i] != '\t' && buf[i] != 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+	return i
+}
+
+// makeError is a helper function for making a metric parsing error.
+//   reason is the reason that the error occured.
+//   buf should be the current buffer we are parsing.
+//   i is the current index, to give some context on where in the buffer we are.
+func makeError(reason string, buf []byte, i int) error {
+	return fmt.Errorf("metric parsing error, reason: [%s], buffer: [%s], index: [%d]",
+		reason, buf, i)
+}

plugins/aggregators/minmax/minmax_test.go

@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/testutil"
 )
 
-var m1, _ = telegraf.NewMetric("m1",
+var m1, _ = metric.New("m1",
 	map[string]string{"foo": "bar"},
 	map[string]interface{}{
 		"a": int64(1),
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ var m1, _ = telegraf.NewMetric("m1",
 	},
 	time.Now(),
 )
-var m2, _ = telegraf.NewMetric("m1",
+var m2, _ = metric.New("m1",
 	map[string]string{"foo": "bar"},
 	map[string]interface{}{
 		"a":        int64(1),

plugins/inputs/logparser/grok/grok.go

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/vjeantet/grok"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 var timeLayouts = map[string]string{
@@ -280,7 +281,7 @@ func (p *Parser) ParseLine(line string) (telegraf.Metric, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return telegraf.NewMetric(p.Measurement, tags, fields, p.tsModder.tsMod(timestamp))
+	return metric.New(p.Measurement, tags, fields, p.tsModder.tsMod(timestamp))
 }
 
 func (p *Parser) addCustomPatterns(scanner *bufio.Scanner) {

plugins/inputs/prometheus/parser.go

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 
 	"github.com/matttproud/golang_protobuf_extensions/pbutil"
 	dto "github.com/prometheus/client_model/go"
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ func Parse(buf []byte, header http.Header) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
 				} else {
 					t = time.Now()
 				}
-				metric, err := telegraf.NewMetric(metricName, tags, fields, t)
+				metric, err := metric.New(metricName, tags, fields, t)
 				if err == nil {
 					metrics = append(metrics, metric)
 				}

plugins/inputs/webhooks/github/github_webhooks_models.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 const meas = "github_webhooks"
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@ func (s CommitCommentEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"commit":  s.Comment.Commit,
 		"comment": s.Comment.Body,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ func (s CreateEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"ref":     s.Ref,
 		"refType": s.RefType,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -166,7 +167,7 @@ func (s DeleteEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"ref":     s.Ref,
 		"refType": s.RefType,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ func (s DeploymentEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"environment": s.Deployment.Environment,
 		"description": s.Deployment.Description,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -231,7 +232,7 @@ func (s DeploymentStatusEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"depState":       s.DeploymentStatus.State,
 		"depDescription": s.DeploymentStatus.Description,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -259,7 +260,7 @@ func (s ForkEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"issues": s.Repository.Issues,
 		"fork":   s.Forkee.Repository,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -287,7 +288,7 @@ func (s GollumEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"forks":  s.Repository.Forks,
 		"issues": s.Repository.Issues,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -319,7 +320,7 @@ func (s IssueCommentEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"comments": s.Issue.Comments,
 		"body":     s.Comment.Body,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -351,7 +352,7 @@ func (s IssuesEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"title":    s.Issue.Title,
 		"comments": s.Issue.Comments,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -380,7 +381,7 @@ func (s MemberEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"newMember":       s.Member.User,
 		"newMemberStatus": s.Member.Admin,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -406,7 +407,7 @@ func (s MembershipEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"newMember":       s.Member.User,
 		"newMemberStatus": s.Member.Admin,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -432,7 +433,7 @@ func (s PageBuildEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"forks":  s.Repository.Forks,
 		"issues": s.Repository.Issues,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -458,7 +459,7 @@ func (s PublicEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"forks":  s.Repository.Forks,
 		"issues": s.Repository.Issues,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -495,7 +496,7 @@ func (s PullRequestEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"deletions":    s.PullRequest.Deletions,
 		"changedFiles": s.PullRequest.ChangedFiles,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -533,7 +534,7 @@ func (s PullRequestReviewCommentEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"commentFile":  s.Comment.File,
 		"comment":      s.Comment.Comment,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -565,7 +566,7 @@ func (s PushEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"before": s.Before,
 		"after":  s.After,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -593,7 +594,7 @@ func (s ReleaseEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"issues":  s.Repository.Issues,
 		"tagName": s.Release.TagName,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -619,7 +620,7 @@ func (s RepositoryEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"forks":  s.Repository.Forks,
 		"issues": s.Repository.Issues,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -649,7 +650,7 @@ func (s StatusEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"commit": s.Commit,
 		"state":  s.State,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -677,7 +678,7 @@ func (s TeamAddEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"issues":   s.Repository.Issues,
 		"teamName": s.Team.Name,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}
@@ -703,7 +704,7 @@ func (s WatchEvent) NewMetric() telegraf.Metric {
 		"forks":  s.Repository.Forks,
 		"issues": s.Repository.Issues,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric(meas, t, f, time.Now())
+	m, err := metric.New(meas, t, f, time.Now())
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatalf("Failed to create %v event", event)
 	}

plugins/outputs/amqp/amqp.go

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package amqp
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"strings"
@@ -178,7 +177,7 @@ func (q *AMQP) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	if len(metrics) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
-	var outbuf = make(map[string][][]byte)
+	outbuf := make(map[string][]byte)
 
 	for _, metric := range metrics {
 		var key string
@@ -188,14 +187,12 @@ func (q *AMQP) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 			}
 		}
 
-		values, err := q.serializer.Serialize(metric)
+		buf, err := q.serializer.Serialize(metric)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		for _, value := range values {
+		outbuf[key] = append(outbuf[key], buf...)
-			outbuf[key] = append(outbuf[key], []byte(value))
-		}
 	}
 
 	for key, buf := range outbuf {
@@ -207,7 +204,7 @@ func (q *AMQP) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 			amqp.Publishing{
 				Headers:     q.headers,
 				ContentType: "text/plain",
-				Body:        bytes.Join(buf, []byte("\n")),
+				Body:        buf,
 			})
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("FAILED to send amqp message: %s", err)

plugins/outputs/file/file.go

@@ -92,16 +92,9 @@ func (f *File) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	}
 
 	for _, metric := range metrics {
-		values, err := f.serializer.Serialize(metric)
+		_, err := f.writer.Write(metric.Serialize())
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			return fmt.Errorf("FAILED to write message: %s, %s", metric.Serialize(), err)
-		}
-
-		for _, value := range values {
-			_, err = f.writer.Write([]byte(value + "\n"))
-			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("FAILED to write message: %s, %s", value, err)
-			}
 		}
 	}
 	return nil

plugins/outputs/graphite/graphite.go

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"math/rand"
 	"net"
-	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
@@ -76,20 +75,19 @@ func (g *Graphite) Description() string {
 // occurs, logging each unsuccessful. If all servers fail, return error.
 func (g *Graphite) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	// Prepare data
-	var bp []string
+	var batch []byte
 	s, err := serializers.NewGraphiteSerializer(g.Prefix, g.Template)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
 	for _, metric := range metrics {
-		gMetrics, err := s.Serialize(metric)
+		buf, err := s.Serialize(metric)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Printf("E! Error serializing some metrics to graphite: %s", err.Error())
 		}
-		bp = append(bp, gMetrics...)
+		batch = append(batch, buf...)
 	}
-	graphitePoints := strings.Join(bp, "\n") + "\n"
 
 	// This will get set to nil if a successful write occurs
 	err = errors.New("Could not write to any Graphite server in cluster\n")
@@ -100,7 +98,7 @@ func (g *Graphite) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 		if g.Timeout > 0 {
 			g.conns[n].SetWriteDeadline(time.Now().Add(time.Duration(g.Timeout) * time.Second))
 		}
-		if _, e := g.conns[n].Write([]byte(graphitePoints)); e != nil {
+		if _, e := g.conns[n].Write(batch); e != nil {
 			// Error
 			log.Println("E! Graphite Error: " + e.Error())
 			// Let's try the next one

plugins/outputs/graphite/graphite_test.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ func TestGraphiteError(t *testing.T) {
 		Prefix:  "my.prefix",
 	}
 	// Init metrics
-	m1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m1, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"mymeasurement": float64(3.14)},
@@ -51,19 +52,19 @@ func TestGraphiteOK(t *testing.T) {
 		Prefix: "my.prefix",
 	}
 	// Init metrics
-	m1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m1, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"myfield": float64(3.14)},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
-	m2, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m2, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
-	m3, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m3, _ := metric.New(
 		"my_measurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},

plugins/outputs/instrumental/instrumental.go

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package instrumental
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"log"
@@ -10,11 +11,17 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/outputs"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/serializers"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/serializers/graphite"
 )
 
+var (
+	ValueIncludesBadChar = regexp.MustCompile("[^[:digit:].]")
+	MetricNameReplacer   = regexp.MustCompile("[^-[:alnum:]_.]+")
+)
+
 type Instrumental struct {
 	Host       string
 	ApiToken   string
@@ -34,11 +41,6 @@ const (
 	HandshakeFormat = HelloMessage + AuthFormat
 )
 
-var (
-	ValueIncludesBadChar = regexp.MustCompile("[^[:digit:].]")
-	MetricNameReplacer   = regexp.MustCompile("[^-[:alnum:]_.]+")
-)
-
 var sampleConfig = `
   ## Project API Token (required)
   api_token = "API Token" # required
@@ -94,7 +96,7 @@ func (i *Instrumental) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	var toSerialize telegraf.Metric
 	var newTags map[string]string
 
-	for _, metric := range metrics {
+	for _, m := range metrics {
 		// Pull the metric_type out of the metric's tags. We don't want the type
 		// to show up with the other tags pulled from the system, as they go in the
 		// beginning of the line instead.
@@ -106,18 +108,18 @@ func (i *Instrumental) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 		//
 		//  increment some_prefix.host.tag1.tag2.tag3.counter.field value timestamp
 		//
-		newTags = metric.Tags()
+		newTags = m.Tags()
 		metricType = newTags["metric_type"]
 		delete(newTags, "metric_type")
 
-		toSerialize, _ = telegraf.NewMetric(
+		toSerialize, _ = metric.New(
-			metric.Name(),
+			m.Name(),
 			newTags,
-			metric.Fields(),
+			m.Fields(),
-			metric.Time(),
+			m.Time(),
 		)
 
-		stats, err := s.Serialize(toSerialize)
+		buf, err := s.Serialize(toSerialize)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Printf("E! Error serializing a metric to Instrumental: %s", err)
 		}
@@ -131,20 +133,25 @@ func (i *Instrumental) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 			metricType = "gauge"
 		}
 
-		for _, stat := range stats {
+		buffer := bytes.NewBuffer(buf)
+		for {
+			line, err := buffer.ReadBytes('\n')
+			if err != nil {
+				break
+			}
+			stat := string(line)
+
 			// decompose "metric.name value time"
 			splitStat := strings.SplitN(stat, " ", 3)
-			metric := splitStat[0]
+			name := splitStat[0]
 			value := splitStat[1]
 			time := splitStat[2]
 
 			// replace invalid components of metric name with underscore
-			clean_metric := MetricNameReplacer.ReplaceAllString(metric, "_")
+			clean_metric := MetricNameReplacer.ReplaceAllString(name, "_")
 
 			if !ValueIncludesBadChar.MatchString(value) {
 				points = append(points, fmt.Sprintf("%s %s %s %s", metricType, clean_metric, value, time))
-			} else if i.Debug {
-				log.Printf("E! Instrumental unable to send bad stat: %s", stat)
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -152,8 +159,6 @@ func (i *Instrumental) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	allPoints := strings.Join(points, "\n") + "\n"
 	_, err = fmt.Fprintf(i.conn, allPoints)
 
-	log.Println("D! Instrumental: " + allPoints)
-
 	if err != nil {
 		if err == io.EOF {
 			i.Close()

plugins/outputs/instrumental/instrumental_test.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
@@ -26,13 +27,13 @@ func TestWrite(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// Default to gauge
-	m1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m1, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"myfield": float64(3.14)},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
-	m2, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m2, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1", "metric_type": "set"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},
@@ -43,27 +44,27 @@ func TestWrite(t *testing.T) {
 	i.Write(metrics)
 
 	// Counter and Histogram are increments
-	m3, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m3, _ := metric.New(
 		"my_histogram",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1", "metric_type": "histogram"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
 	// We will modify metric names that won't be accepted by Instrumental
-	m4, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m4, _ := metric.New(
 		"bad_metric_name",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1:8888::123", "metric_type": "counter"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 1},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
 	// We will drop metric values that won't be accepted by Instrumental
-	m5, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m5, _ := metric.New(
 		"bad_values",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1", "metric_type": "counter"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": "\" 3:30\""},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
-	m6, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m6, _ := metric.New(
 		"my_counter",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1", "metric_type": "counter"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},

plugins/outputs/librato/librato_test.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ func TestBuildGauge(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func newHostMetric(value interface{}, name, host string) (metric telegraf.Metric) {
-	metric, _ = telegraf.NewMetric(
+	metric, _ = metric.New(
 		name,
 		map[string]string{"host": host},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": value},
@@ -174,19 +175,19 @@ func newHostMetric(value interface{}, name, host string) (metric telegraf.Metric
 
 func TestBuildGaugeWithSource(t *testing.T) {
 	mtime := time.Date(2009, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
-	pt1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt1, _ := metric.New(
 		"test1",
 		map[string]string{"hostname": "192.168.0.1", "tag1": "value1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 0.0},
 		mtime,
 	)
-	pt2, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt2, _ := metric.New(
 		"test2",
 		map[string]string{"hostnam": "192.168.0.1", "tag1": "value1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 1.0},
 		mtime,
 	)
-	pt3, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt3, _ := metric.New(
 		"test3",
 		map[string]string{
 			"hostname": "192.168.0.1",
@@ -195,7 +196,7 @@ func TestBuildGaugeWithSource(t *testing.T) {
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 1.0},
 		mtime,
 	)
-	pt4, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt4, _ := metric.New(
 		"test4",
 		map[string]string{
 			"hostname": "192.168.0.1",

plugins/outputs/mqtt/mqtt.go

@@ -128,24 +128,22 @@ func (m *MQTT) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 		t = append(t, metric.Name())
 		topic := strings.Join(t, "/")
 
-		values, err := m.serializer.Serialize(metric)
+		buf, err := m.serializer.Serialize(metric)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("MQTT Could not serialize metric: %s",
 				metric.String())
 		}
 
-		for _, value := range values {
+		err = m.publish(topic, buf)
-			err = m.publish(topic, value)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("Could not write to MQTT server, %s", err)
 		}
 	}
-	}
 
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (m *MQTT) publish(topic, body string) error {
+func (m *MQTT) publish(topic string, body []byte) error {
 	token := m.client.Publish(topic, byte(m.QoS), false, body)
 	token.Wait()
 	if token.Error() != nil {

plugins/outputs/nats/nats.go

@@ -115,20 +115,13 @@ func (n *NATS) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	}
 
 	for _, metric := range metrics {
-		values, err := n.serializer.Serialize(metric)
+		buf, err := n.serializer.Serialize(metric)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		var pubErr error
+		err = n.conn.Publish(n.Subject, buf)
-		for _, value := range values {
-			err = n.conn.Publish(n.Subject, []byte(value))
 		if err != nil {
-				pubErr = err
-			}
-		}
-
-		if pubErr != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("FAILED to send NATS message: %s", err)
 		}
 	}

plugins/outputs/nsq/nsq.go

@@ -66,20 +66,13 @@ func (n *NSQ) Write(metrics []telegraf.Metric) error {
 	}
 
 	for _, metric := range metrics {
-		values, err := n.serializer.Serialize(metric)
+		buf, err := n.serializer.Serialize(metric)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		var pubErr error
+		err = n.producer.Publish(n.Topic, buf)
-		for _, value := range values {
-			err = n.producer.Publish(n.Topic, []byte(value))
 		if err != nil {
-				pubErr = err
-			}
-		}
-
-		if pubErr != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("FAILED to send NSQD message: %s", err)
 		}
 	}

plugins/outputs/prometheus_client/prometheus_client_test.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/inputs/prometheus"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/testutil"
 )
@@ -26,12 +27,12 @@ func TestPrometheusWritePointEmptyTag(t *testing.T) {
 
 	now := time.Now()
 	tags := make(map[string]string)
-	pt1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt1, _ := metric.New(
 		"test_point_1",
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 0.0},
 		now)
-	pt2, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt2, _ := metric.New(
 		"test_point_2",
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 1.0},
@@ -61,12 +62,12 @@ func TestPrometheusWritePointEmptyTag(t *testing.T) {
 
 	tags = make(map[string]string)
 	tags["testtag"] = "testvalue"
-	pt3, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt3, _ := metric.New(
 		"test_point_3",
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 0.0},
 		now)
-	pt4, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt4, _ := metric.New(
 		"test_point_4",
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 1.0},
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@ func TestPrometheusExpireOldMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 
 	now := time.Now()
 	tags := make(map[string]string)
-	pt1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt1, _ := metric.New(
 		"test_point_1",
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 0.0},
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ func TestPrometheusExpireOldMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		m.Expiration = now.Add(time.Duration(-15) * time.Second)
 	}
 
-	pt2, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt2, _ := metric.New(
 		"test_point_2",
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": 1.0},

plugins/parsers/graphite/parser.go

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 // Minimum and maximum supported dates for timestamps.
@@ -216,7 +217,7 @@ func (p *GraphiteParser) ParseLine(line string) (telegraf.Metric, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return telegraf.NewMetric(measurement, tags, fieldValues, timestamp)
+	return metric.New(measurement, tags, fieldValues, timestamp)
 }
 
 // ApplyTemplate extracts the template fields from the given line and

plugins/parsers/graphite/parser_test.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
@@ -369,7 +370,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchDefault(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("miss.servers.localhost.cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("miss.servers.localhost.cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -387,7 +388,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchMultipleMeasurement(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu.cpu_load.10",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu.cpu_load.10",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -406,7 +407,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchMultipleMeasurementSeparator(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_cpu_load_10",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_cpu_load_10",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -424,7 +425,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchSingle(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -441,7 +442,7 @@ func TestParseNoMatch(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("servers.localhost.memory.VmallocChunk",
+	exp, err := metric.New("servers.localhost.memory.VmallocChunk",
 		map[string]string{},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -459,7 +460,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchWildcard(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -479,7 +480,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchExactBeforeWildcard(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -504,7 +505,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchMostLongestFilter(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost", "resource": "cpu"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -528,7 +529,7 @@ func TestFilterMatchMultipleWildcards(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "server01"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -550,7 +551,7 @@ func TestParseDefaultTags(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost", "region": "us-east", "zone": "1c"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -571,7 +572,7 @@ func TestParseDefaultTemplateTags(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost", "region": "us-east", "zone": "1c"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -592,7 +593,7 @@ func TestParseDefaultTemplateTagsOverridGlobal(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost", "region": "us-east", "zone": "1c"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))
@@ -615,7 +616,7 @@ func TestParseTemplateWhitespace(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error creating parser, got %v", err)
 	}
 
-	exp, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu_load",
+	exp, err := metric.New("cpu_load",
 		map[string]string{"host": "localhost", "region": "us-east", "zone": "1c"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(11)},
 		time.Unix(1435077219, 0))

plugins/parsers/influx/parser.go

@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
-
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
-	"github.com/influxdata/influxdb/models"
 )
 
 // InfluxParser is an object for Parsing incoming metrics.
@@ -19,18 +18,16 @@ type InfluxParser struct {
 func (p *InfluxParser) ParseWithDefaultTime(buf []byte, t time.Time) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
 	// parse even if the buffer begins with a newline
 	buf = bytes.TrimPrefix(buf, []byte("\n"))
-	points, err := models.ParsePointsWithPrecision(buf, t, "n")
+	metrics, err := metric.ParseWithDefaultTime(buf, t)
-	metrics := make([]telegraf.Metric, len(points))
+	if len(p.DefaultTags) > 0 {
-	for i, point := range points {
+		for _, m := range metrics {
 			for k, v := range p.DefaultTags {
 				// only set the default tag if it doesn't already exist:
-			if tmp := point.Tags().GetString(k); tmp == "" {
+				if !m.HasTag(k) {
-				point.AddTag(k, v)
+					m.AddTag(k, v)
+				}
 			}
 		}
-		// Ignore error here because it's impossible that a model.Point
-		// wouldn't parse into client.Point properly
-		metrics[i] = telegraf.NewMetricFromPoint(point)
 	}
 	return metrics, err
 }

plugins/parsers/influx/parser_test.go

@@ -14,15 +14,14 @@ var (
 	ms         []telegraf.Metric
 	writer     = ioutil.Discard
 	metrics500 []byte
+	exptime    = time.Date(2009, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC).UnixNano()
 )
 
-var exptime = time.Date(2009, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
-
 const (
-	validInflux        = "cpu_load_short,cpu=cpu0 value=10 1257894000000000000"
+	validInflux        = "cpu_load_short,cpu=cpu0 value=10 1257894000000000000\n"
 	validInfluxNewline = "\ncpu_load_short,cpu=cpu0 value=10 1257894000000000000\n"
-	invalidInflux      = "I don't think this is line protocol"
+	invalidInflux      = "I don't think this is line protocol\n"
-	invalidInflux2     = "{\"a\": 5, \"b\": {\"c\": 6}}"
+	invalidInflux2     = "{\"a\": 5, \"b\": {\"c\": 6}}\n"
 )
 
 const influxMulti = `
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ func TestParseValidInflux(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, map[string]string{
 		"cpu": "cpu0",
 	}, metrics[0].Tags())
-	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metrics[0].Time())
+	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metrics[0].Time().UnixNano())
 
 	metrics, err = parser.Parse([]byte(validInfluxNewline))
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
@@ -69,7 +68,7 @@ func TestParseValidInflux(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, map[string]string{
 		"cpu": "cpu0",
 	}, metrics[0].Tags())
-	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metrics[0].Time())
+	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metrics[0].Time().UnixNano())
 }
 
 func TestParseLineValidInflux(t *testing.T) {
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@ func TestParseLineValidInflux(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, map[string]string{
 		"cpu": "cpu0",
 	}, metric.Tags())
-	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metric.Time())
+	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metric.Time().UnixNano())
 
 	metric, err = parser.ParseLine(validInfluxNewline)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
@@ -95,7 +94,7 @@ func TestParseLineValidInflux(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, map[string]string{
 		"cpu": "cpu0",
 	}, metric.Tags())
-	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metric.Time())
+	assert.Equal(t, exptime, metric.Time().UnixNano())
 }
 
 func TestParseMultipleValid(t *testing.T) {
@@ -229,11 +228,8 @@ func BenchmarkParseAddTagWrite(b *testing.B) {
 			panic("500 metrics not parsed!!")
 		}
 		for _, tmp := range ms {
-			tags := tmp.Tags()
+			tmp.AddTag("host", "localhost")
-			tags["host"] = "localhost"
+			writer.Write(tmp.Serialize())
-			tmp, _ = telegraf.NewMetric(tmp.Name(), tags, tmp.Fields(), tmp.Time())
-			writer.Write([]byte(tmp.String()))
-			writer.Write([]byte{'\n'})
 		}
 	}
 }

plugins/parsers/json/parser.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 type JSONParser struct {
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ func (p *JSONParser) parseObject(metrics []telegraf.Metric, jsonOut map[string]i
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	metric, err := telegraf.NewMetric(p.MetricName, tags, f.Fields, time.Now().UTC())
+	metric, err := metric.New(p.MetricName, tags, f.Fields, time.Now().UTC())
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err

plugins/parsers/nagios/parser.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 type NagiosParser struct {
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ func (p *NagiosParser) Parse(buf []byte) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
 			fields["max"] = perf[0][7]
 		}
 		// Create metric
-		metric, err := telegraf.NewMetric(fieldName, tags, fields, time.Now().UTC())
+		metric, err := metric.New(fieldName, tags, fields, time.Now().UTC())
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}

plugins/parsers/value/parser.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 type ValueParser struct {
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ func (v *ValueParser) Parse(buf []byte) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
 	}
 
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{"value": value}
-	metric, err := telegraf.NewMetric(v.MetricName, v.DefaultTags,
+	metric, err := metric.New(v.MetricName, v.DefaultTags,
 		fields, time.Now().UTC())
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err

plugins/serializers/graphite/graphite.go

@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ type GraphiteSerializer struct {
 	Template string
 }
 
-func (s *GraphiteSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]string, error) {
+func (s *GraphiteSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]byte, error) {
-	out := []string{}
+	out := []byte{}
 
 	// Convert UnixNano to Unix timestamps
 	timestamp := metric.UnixNano() / 1000000000
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ func (s *GraphiteSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]string, error)
 	for fieldName, value := range metric.Fields() {
 		// Convert value to string
 		valueS := fmt.Sprintf("%#v", value)
-		point := fmt.Sprintf("%s %s %d",
+		point := []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%s %s %d\n",
 			// insert "field" section of template
 			sanitizedChars.Replace(InsertField(bucket, fieldName)),
 			sanitizedChars.Replace(valueS),
-			timestamp)
+			timestamp))
-		out = append(out, point)
+		out = append(out, point...)
 	}
 	return out, nil
 }

plugins/serializers/graphite/graphite_test.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 var defaultTags = map[string]string{
@@ -29,19 +30,19 @@ const (
 )
 
 func TestGraphiteTags(t *testing.T) {
-	m1, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m1, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
-	m2, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m2, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"host": "192.168.0.1", "afoo": "first", "bfoo": "second"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},
 		time.Date(2010, time.November, 10, 23, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC),
 	)
-	m3, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	m3, _ := metric.New(
 		"mymeasurement",
 		map[string]string{"afoo": "first", "bfoo": "second"},
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": float64(3.14)},
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricNoHost(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 		"usage_busy": float64(8.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{}
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricHost(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 		"usage_busy": float64(8.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{}
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ func TestSerializeValueField(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"value": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{}
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ func TestSerializeValueField2(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"value": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{
@@ -171,7 +172,7 @@ func TestSerializeFieldWithSpaces(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		`field\ with\ spaces`: float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ func TestSerializeTagWithSpaces(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		`field_with_spaces`: float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{
@@ -223,7 +224,7 @@ func TestSerializeValueField3(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"value": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{
@@ -249,7 +250,7 @@ func TestSerializeValueField5(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"value": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{
@@ -275,7 +276,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricPrefix(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 		"usage_busy": float64(8.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := GraphiteSerializer{Prefix: "prefix"}
@@ -300,7 +301,7 @@ func TestSerializeBucketNameNoHost(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), "", "")
@@ -314,7 +315,7 @@ func TestSerializeBucketNameHost(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), "", "")
@@ -328,7 +329,7 @@ func TestSerializeBucketNamePrefix(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), "", "prefix")
@@ -342,7 +343,7 @@ func TestTemplate1(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), template1, "")
@@ -356,7 +357,7 @@ func TestTemplate2(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), template2, "")
@@ -370,7 +371,7 @@ func TestTemplate3(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), template3, "")
@@ -384,7 +385,7 @@ func TestTemplate4(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), template4, "")
@@ -398,7 +399,7 @@ func TestTemplate6(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", defaultTags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mS := SerializeBucketName(m.Name(), m.Tags(), template6, "")

plugins/serializers/influx/influx.go

@@ -7,6 +7,6 @@ import (
 type InfluxSerializer struct {
 }
 
-func (s *InfluxSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]string, error) {
+func (s *InfluxSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]byte, error) {
-	return []string{metric.String()}, nil
+	return metric.Serialize(), nil
 }

plugins/serializers/influx/influx_test.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 func TestSerializeMetricFloat(t *testing.T) {
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricFloat(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := InfluxSerializer{}
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricInt(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": int64(90),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := InfluxSerializer{}
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricString(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": "foobar",
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := InfluxSerializer{}

plugins/serializers/json/json.go

@@ -9,9 +9,7 @@ import (
 type JsonSerializer struct {
 }
 
-func (s *JsonSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]string, error) {
+func (s *JsonSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]byte, error) {
-	out := []string{}
-
 	m := make(map[string]interface{})
 	m["tags"] = metric.Tags()
 	m["fields"] = metric.Fields()
@@ -19,9 +17,9 @@ func (s *JsonSerializer) Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]string, error) {
 	m["timestamp"] = metric.UnixNano() / 1000000000
 	serialized, err := ejson.Marshal(m)
 	if err != nil {
-		return []string{}, err
+		return []byte{}, err
 	}
-	out = append(out, string(serialized))
+	serialized = append(serialized, '\n')
 
-	return out, nil
+	return serialized, nil
 }

plugins/serializers/json/json_test.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 func TestSerializeMetricFloat(t *testing.T) {
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricFloat(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": float64(91.5),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := JsonSerializer{}
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricInt(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": int64(90),
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := JsonSerializer{}
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ func TestSerializeMetricString(t *testing.T) {
 	fields := map[string]interface{}{
 		"usage_idle": "foobar",
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := JsonSerializer{}
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ func TestSerializeMultiFields(t *testing.T) {
 		"usage_idle":  int64(90),
 		"usage_total": 8559615,
 	}
-	m, err := telegraf.NewMetric("cpu", tags, fields, now)
+	m, err := metric.New("cpu", tags, fields, now)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	s := JsonSerializer{}

plugins/serializers/registry.go

@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ type SerializerOutput interface {
 // Serializer is an interface defining functions that a serializer plugin must
 // satisfy.
 type Serializer interface {
-	// Serialize takes a single telegraf metric and turns it into a string.
+	// Serialize takes a single telegraf metric and turns it into a byte buffer.
-	Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]string, error)
+	// separate metrics should be separated by a newline, and there should be
+	// a newline at the end of the buffer.
+	Serialize(metric telegraf.Metric) ([]byte, error)
 }
 
 // Config is a struct that covers the data types needed for all serializer types,

testutil/testutil.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/metric"
 )
 
 var localhost = "localhost"
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ func TestMetric(value interface{}, name ...string) telegraf.Metric {
 		measurement = name[0]
 	}
 	tags := map[string]string{"tag1": "value1"}
-	pt, _ := telegraf.NewMetric(
+	pt, _ := metric.New(
 		measurement,
 		tags,
 		map[string]interface{}{"value": value},