Issues with $ref format checking

[ricellis]

I've found a few problems with the way the validator tool checks $ref usage using version 0.2.1.
I've created and attached a set of example files in example.zip which demonstrates the problems, unzip and run for vi.yaml.

1. The checking does not apply consistently across all types - in my example vi.yaml errors are given only for headers, parameters and responses despite the blacklist including requestBodies which I reference in the same way.
2. The format checking is applied to $ref usages within the components object itself, which doesn't make sense because it encourages a spec writer to create a circular reference.
3. The restrictions on the $ref format in OpenAPI v3 are invalid anyway. I sought clarification on this in Clarify statement about Reference obects in Responses object OAI/OpenAPI-Specification#1679 - though the spec has not been updated yet (as of v3.0.2).

Based on point 3 I think removing the $ref format checks entirely for OpenAPI v3 could be a good solution.
Another option would be to workaround by adding an option to disable the walker's $ref checks, similarly to how many of the other checks can be flagged on and off.

I'd be happy to try and do a PR for either of those options if it suits, just let me know.

Even if I did that though I think further may be needed to address point 1 to get complete spec checking - I haven't looked into why the validator doesn't behave the same way for all the $refs and whether it is missing validating part of the tree.

[dpopp07]

🎉 This issue has been resolved in version 0.2.2 🎉

The release is available on:

• npm package (@latest dist-tag)
• GitHub release

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