New `socket` transform

[ghost]

It might be nice to have an ability to run a transform which would send events (with either ndjson or text encoding) to a socket (unix, tcp, or udp) and read transformed events from the same socket.

Currently this can be achieved using a combination of socket sink and socket source, so this it is more about providing a shortcut for doing this and working examples, which might be helpful for new users.

If we implement this, there could be two examples of using it in the documentation:

• A second instance of Vector as a stream processor;
• A combination of socat and jq as an example of integrating existing shell scripts with Vector.

[bruceg]

I think if this is desirable, it would make sense to start with a "pipe" transform that can do this simply with local programs.

[yuuhhe]

I need : Socket source with ndjson encoding or Vector source with unix mode

[ypid-geberit]

It might be nice

What is the use case for this? As you wrote, it can already be done.

[tmccombs]

Personally, I think it would be more useful to have a transform that spawns a subprocess then sends event over that processes stdin, and read the transformed events from stdout. I'm not sure if that is worth making a separate issue for.