pip_install: Bazel version cannot be determined; expected at least 4.0.0?

[edcote]

Steps to repo:

$ bazelisk --version
bazel 5.2.0
$ bazelisk query --output=build //... 
ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
[..]
        File "/home/edc/.cache/bazel/_bazel_edc/47ee53dcfd5ce43eec5559a876596bb8/external/rules_python/python/pip_install/repositories.bzl", line 119, column 19, in pip_install_dependencies
                versions.check("4.0.0")
        File "/home/edc/.cache/bazel/_bazel_edc/47ee53dcfd5ce43eec5559a876596bb8/external/rules_python/third_party/github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-skylib/lib/versions.bzl", line 92, column 17, in _check_bazel_version
                fail("Bazel version cannot be determined; expected at least {}".format(
Error in fail: Bazel version cannot be determined; expected at least 4.0.0
ERROR: error loading package '': Package '' contains errors
Loading: 0 packages loaded

Supporting information:

$ cat BUILD
load("@rules_python//python:pip.bzl", "pip_install")
pip_install()

cat $WORKSPACE
load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")

http_archive(
    name = "rules_python",
    sha256 = "b593d13bb43c94ce94b483c2858e53a9b811f6f10e1e0eedc61073bd90e58d9c",
    strip_prefix = "rules_python-0.12.0",
    url = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/archive/refs/tags/0.12.0.tar.gz",
)

$ cat .bazelversion
5.2.0

Possible culprit is bazelbuild/bazel#8305?

Was this previously fixed or is there workaround I have not seen #526?

[edcote]

Perhaps pip_install belongs in WORKSPACE?

[prclibo]

Hello, @edcote
I met similar issue when calling pip_install in a bazel of 5.1.1. Could you possibly share your solution? Thanks!