#569 - add check for minimum netbox/branching versions for branching support

[arthanson]

Fixes: #569

Adds a Django system check that enforces minimum NetBox and netbox-branching versions only when netbox-branching is installed.

[arthanson]

@claude /review Only report on issues of potential concern; we don't need commentary on anything that doesn't require further consideration.

[github-actions]

Claude finished @arthanson's task in 1m 42s —— View job

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Code Review

• Gather context
• Read changed files
• Analyze and post review

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Concerns

1. No test coverage for checks.py

The new check has three meaningful branches (branching not installed → early return; NetBox version too low; branching version too low), plus the silent-pass paths. None are covered by tests. A failure in checks.py (e.g. a future refactor breaking the apps.is_installed guard) would go undetected until a user hits it at startup. Consider adding a test module — test_checks.py — that mocks apps.is_installed, settings.RELEASE, and _pkg_version to exercise each branch. Fix this →

2. PackageNotFoundError silently skips the branching version check for editable installs

checks.py:59 catches PackageNotFoundError and returns without an error. The comment acknowledges this ("editable install without dist-info — skip rather than warn"), but it creates a real gap: a developer running an incompatible editable netbox-branching checkout gets no warning at all. A Warning-level check (rather than silent pass) would at least surface the ambiguity:

except PackageNotFoundError:
    errors.append(Warning(
        'netbox-branching is installed but its version could not be determined.',
        hint='If using an editable install, ensure dist-info is present.',
        id='netbox_custom_objects.W001',
    ))

Fix this →

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[arthanson]

re claude review, fixed 1 and 2.

[bctiemann]

Should this one pull from the min_version on the PluginConfig? Or else we'll have to keep this in sync too. Or if this is relevant only when branching is present, maybe REQUIRED_NETBOX_VERSION_FOR_BRANCHING or something? (If it's truly unrelated to the custom-objects min_version then I don't mind this.)

[bctiemann]

See inline