build_project_repo version detection fails for apps without __version__ attribute

[tanhaow]

After a recent refactor of build_project_repo, the version detection step imports the Python package to read __version__. This fails for third-party apps like eScriptorium that don't expose a version this way.

The previous behavior allowed setting python_app_version directly as a variable to skip detection. We need to restore that — if python_app_version is already defined, skip the import step and use the provided value directly.

Current workaround: python_app has been removed from htr/vars.yml to skip version detection entirely, which means we lose version tracking for eScriptorium.

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@rlskoeser, I removed python_app and python_app_version from the shared vars htr/vars.yml, which you originally set in htr_staging/vars.yml, because they're causing build_project_repo role fail.

I believe they were valid at the time when you were setup the staging server, but after Francis's latest refactor on build_project_repo role, it now has a version detection step that requires the __version__ attribute which eScriptorium doesn't have.
...

Your solution is ok as a temporary workaround, but we need to resolve the problem. (I don't think this is the only app affected.) It will be important in the long run to distinguish which version if eScriptorium we're deploying. You will have to figure out how to revise the python_app_version task to restore the previous behavior (allow override with a variable) or some other solution that works with eSciptorium.

Originally posted by @rlskoeser in #347 (comment)

[rlskoeser]

@tanhaow it might be very easy to restore the old behavior, we're just missing one check which got lost in the refactor (and which should be documented somewhere more clearly).

Here are the relevant line in the current code where we include the python_app_version task:

cdh-ansible/roles/build_project_repo/tasks/main.yml

Lines 35 to 38 in 7984575

	- name: Determine version of python app being deployed
	ansible.builtin.import_tasks: python_app_version.yml
	when: python_app is defined
	tags: [always]

Previously we had two conditions:

    when:
      - python_app is defined
      - python_app_version is not defined

The second one was dropped, we're only checking this one now, which is why it didn't skip this for the eScriptorium playbook:

    when: python_app is defined

[tanhaow]

@rlskoeser Thank you for digging out the solution! It does look like a easy fix then