Automatically negotiate API version to use #2547
Description
The go client has an option to automatically negotiate what API version should be selected.
This could also be used here.
Fork example calling `/version` returns the following:
{
"Platform" : {
"Name" : "Docker Desktop 4.51.0 (210443)"
},
"Components" : [ {
"Name" : "Engine",
"Version" : "28.5.2",
"Details" : {
"ApiVersion" : "1.51",
"Arch" : "amd64",
"BuildTime" : "2025-11-05T14:43:25.000000000+00:00",
"Experimental" : "false",
"GitCommit" : "89c5e8f",
"GoVersion" : "go1.25.3",
"KernelVersion" : "6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2",
"MinAPIVersion" : "1.24",
"Os" : "linux"
}
}, {
"Name" : "containerd",
"Version" : "v1.7.29",
"Details" : {
"GitCommit" : "442cb34bda9a6a0fed82a2ca7cade05c5c749582"
}
}, {
"Name" : "runc",
"Version" : "1.3.3",
"Details" : {
"GitCommit" : "v1.3.3-0-gd842d771"
}
}, {
"Name" : "docker-init",
"Version" : "0.19.0",
"Details" : {
"GitCommit" : "de40ad0"
}
} ],
"Version" : "28.5.2",
"ApiVersion" : "1.51",
"MinAPIVersion" : "1.24",
"GitCommit" : "89c5e8f",
"GoVersion" : "go1.25.3",
"Os" : "linux",
"Arch" : "amd64",
"KernelVersion" : "6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2",
"BuildTime" : "2025-11-05T14:43:25.000000000+00:00"
}
{
"Platform" : {
"Name" : "Docker Desktop 4.52.0 (210994)"
},
"Components" : [ {
"Name" : "Engine",
"Version" : "29.0.1",
"Details" : {
"ApiVersion" : "1.52",
"Arch" : "amd64",
"BuildTime" : "2025-11-14T16:17:57.000000000+00:00",
"Experimental" : "false",
"GitCommit" : "198b5e3",
"GoVersion" : "go1.25.4",
"KernelVersion" : "6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2",
"MinAPIVersion" : "1.44",
"Os" : "linux"
}
}, {
"Name" : "containerd",
"Version" : "v2.1.5",
"Details" : {
"GitCommit" : "fcd43222d6b07379a4be9786bda52438f0dd16a1"
}
}, {
"Name" : "runc",
"Version" : "1.3.3",
"Details" : {
"GitCommit" : "v1.3.3-0-gd842d771"
}
}, {
"Name" : "docker-init",
"Version" : "0.19.0",
"Details" : {
"GitCommit" : "de40ad0"
}
} ],
"Version" : "29.0.1",
"ApiVersion" : "1.52",
"MinAPIVersion" : "1.44",
"GitCommit" : "198b5e3",
"GoVersion" : "go1.25.4",
"Os" : "linux",
"Arch" : "amd64",
"KernelVersion" : "6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2",
"BuildTime" : "2025-11-14T16:17:57.000000000+00:00"
}
The MinAPIVersion attribute could be used to compare it with the client's version.
If ClientAPIVersion < MinAPIVersion the client could log an warning and force the use of MinAPIVersion - this should prevent hard errors at the cost that the API might be incompatible and not work 100%.
The same can also be done the other way around if ClientAPIVersion > ApiVersion.
NOTE: It's currently possible to just omit the /<version> prefix from the paths.
However using the API without a version-prefix is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.