optional dependencies

[gagb]

          Unsure about this - perhaps should be an optional dep?

Originally posted by @casperdcl in #100 (comment)

[afourney]

@gagb @casperdcl , Yeah, more generally, a lot of these should be optional dependencies.

Ideally we would have something like:

pip install markitdown[ocr, openai, yt_transcript]

Etc. to optionally include some of the more esoteric or heavy dependencies. We can then just include or exclude the converters accordingly.

What do you think?

[gagb]

I like this but there is so much appeal to the simplicity from just running pip install markitdown

[casperdcl]

Aliases are quite easy to implement...

pip install markitdown[all] could be made identical to pip install markitdown[ocr,llm,yt].

Pretty common Pythonicity.

_{btw you should probably rename this issue "optional dependencies" or similar. Also you can use a markdown quote block (>) rather than code block in the description 😉}

[SigireddyBalasai]

i think we can just make all the dependencies optional and make the script install dependencies if needed as the way it is happening in ultralytics there if a package is needed it will be installed on runtime also updates also work on runtime

[casperdcl]

Whoa at most you could do:

try:
    import openai
except ImportError as exc:
    raise ImportError("please `pip/conda install openai` or `pip install markitdown[llm]`") from exc

Meanwhile side-effects like this are highly discouraged:

try:
    import openai
except ImportError:
    os.system(f"{sys.executable} -m pip imstall openai")
    import openai

[SigireddyBalasai]

i think something like

import sys
import pip
import pkg_resources

def check_and_install_module(module_name, check_for_updates=False):
    """
    Check if a Python module is installed. Optionally check and perform updates.
    
    Args:
        module_name (str): Name of the module to check and install
        check_for_updates (bool, optional): Whether to check and perform updates. Defaults to False.
    
    Returns:
        dict: A dictionary with installation/update status
    """
    try:
        # Try to import the module
        __import__(module_name)
        print(f"Module {module_name} is already installed.")
        
        # Check for updates if requested
        if check_for_updates:
            try:
                # Get current installed version
                current_version = pkg_resources.get_distribution(module_name).version
                
                # Check for available updates
                pip.main(['list', '--outdated'])
                
                # Perform update
                print(f"Updating {module_name}...")
                update_result = pip.main(['install', '--upgrade', module_name])
                
                if update_result == 0:
                    # Get new version after update
                    new_version = pkg_resources.get_distribution(module_name).version
                    print(f"Updated {module_name} from {current_version} to {new_version}")
                    return {
                        'installed': True, 
                        'updated': True, 
                        'old_version': current_version, 
                        'new_version': new_version
                    }
                else:
                    print(f"Failed to update {module_name}")
                    return {
                        'installed': True, 
                        'updated': False
                    }
            
            except Exception as update_error:
                print(f"Error checking/updating {module_name}: {update_error}")
                return {
                    'installed': True, 
                    'updated': False
                }
        
        return {
            'installed': True, 
            'updated': False
        }
    
    except ImportError:
        print(f"Module {module_name} not found. Attempting to install...")
        
        try:
            # Use pip to install the module
            install_result = pip.main(['install', module_name])
            
            if install_result == 0:
                # Verify the module is now importable
                __import__(module_name)
                print(f"Successfully installed {module_name}")
                return {
                    'installed': True, 
                    'updated': False
                }
            else:
                print(f"Failed to install {module_name}")
                return {
                    'installed': False, 
                    'updated': False
                }
        
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Failed to install {module_name}. Error: {e}")
            return {
                'installed': False, 
                'updated': False
            }

# Example usage
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Check and install pandas
    print(check_and_install_module('pandas'))
    
    # Check, install, and update requests
    print(check_and_install_module('requests', check_for_updates=True))