Sphinx dependency clash

[verdantnova]

Hi, is there a plan on updating to the newer version of Sphinx?

Because currently when trying to have awscli and the latest sphinx as dependencies in the same project causes dependency error because awscli requires docutils<0.17,>=0.10 and the newest sphinx uses docutils>=0.20.

[uldyssian-sh]

This is an expected limitation of how AWS CLI v1 is packaged and supported.

AWS CLI v1 pins documentation dependencies (including docutils<0.17) because it vendors and tests against a specific toolchain. It is not designed to coexist as a Python library dependency alongside modern documentation stacks like the latest Sphinx.

There is no plan to relax these dependency pins in AWS CLI v1. The CLI is treated as an application, not a reusable Python library.

What you should do instead:

Do not install awscli into the same Python environment as Sphinx.

Use AWS CLI v2 for normal usage. AWS CLI v2 is a self-contained binary and does not install Python dependencies into your environment, so it avoids all dependency conflicts entirely.

If you must use AWS CLI v1 (for legacy reasons), install it in an isolated environment:

• a virtualenv dedicated only to awscli
• or via system package manager
• or via pipx

Example with pipx:

pipx install awscli

This keeps awscli isolated and allows you to use the latest Sphinx and docutils in your project without conflicts.

In short:

• AWS CLI v1 dependency pins are intentional and unlikely to change
• Mixing awscli v1 with modern Sphinx in the same environment is unsupported
• Use AWS CLI v2 or isolate awscli v1 to avoid dependency clashes

[uldyssian-sh]

Thanks! If this helps, please consider marking it as “Helpful” or “Accepted” 😊