MUCH faster version check

src/rich_click/__init__.py

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 customisation required.
 """
 
-__version__ = "1.8.0dev6"
+__version__ = "1.8.0dev7"
 
 # Import the entire click API here.
 # We need to manually import these instead of `from click import *` to force

src/rich_click/_compat_click.py

@@ -1,18 +1,20 @@
-try:
-    from importlib import metadata  # type: ignore[import,unused-ignore]
-except ImportError:
-    # Python < 3.8
-    import importlib_metadata as metadata  # type: ignore[no-redef,import-not-found,unused-ignore]
-
+import click
 
-click_version = metadata.version("click")
-_major = int(click_version.split(".")[0])
-_minor = int(click_version.split(".")[1])
 
+try:
+    click_version = click.__version__
+except NameError:
+    # Click 9+ deprecated __version__, so all these checks must necessarily be False if __version__ doesn't exist.
+    CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_8X = False
+    CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_9X = False
+    CLICK_IS_VERSION_80 = False
+else:
+    _major = int(click_version.split(".")[0])
+    _minor = int(click_version.split(".")[1])
 
-CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_8X = _major < 8
-CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_9X = _major < 9
-CLICK_IS_VERSION_80 = _major == 8 and _minor == 0
+    CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_8X = _major < 8
+    CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_9X = _major < 9
+    CLICK_IS_VERSION_80 = _major == 8 and _minor == 0
 
 
 if CLICK_IS_BEFORE_VERSION_8X: