Some way to limit which versions of openapi-python-client can be used

[dbanty]

The recommended way to install openapi-python-client is via pipx, since this avoids the common issue of conflicting dependencies. Internally, openapi-python-client uses some very common tools/libraries (notably Ruff, HTTPX, and Pydantic at the time of writing). If installed as a dev dependency rather than a standalone tool (a la pipx), users are now locked to openapi-python-client's version choices, even if they're not using those dependencies (HTTPX is only needed for downloading from URLs which not everyone does, Ruff is used as a post_hook, which folks can opt out of).

On the one hand, there may be a technique to eliminate the dependency conflicts by vendoring dependencies or releasing a more advanced version of openapi-python-client where as much as possible is optional—that's not what this thread is about, that can be discussed in #998.

On the other—maybe there's a way to remove the need to include openapi-python-client as a dev dependency so more people can use isolated environments. The main reason I know of to include it as a dev dependency instead of standalone is to coordinate which version is used across team members. This could be:

1. To make sure that team members don't upgrade to a new version that isn't compatible.
2. To make sure that team members don't use an out-of-date version and reintroduce a bug into a client that was previously fixed.

Let's discuss!

[dbanty]

@johnthagen does that about capture the issue? Is there any more detail you can provide on the problem to be solved?

Right now, I'm thinking that maybe we add a way to limit openapi-python-client's available version via config, where it will exit with a useful message if it sees a version requirement that it doesn't meet.

[johnthagen]

openapi-generator limits the version through a config. An example of it's config looks like:

{
  "$schema": "node_modules/@openapitools/openapi-generator-cli/config.schema.json",
  "spaces": 2,
  "generator-cli": {
    "version": "7.1.0"
  }
}

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/@openapitools/openapi-generator-cli#configuration

And then you invoke it like:

npx @openapitools/openapi-generator-cli generate ...

One benefit of the Node ecosystem is that npx is installed by default so this workflow is easier whereas in Python you have to boostrap pipx yourself, but that's a separate issue.