[Question]: Duplicate _1 Object generation due to different path prefix

Question

I'm trying to parse 2 API Specifications in OpenAPI 3.0.3 using OpenApiGenerator version 7.1.0. One has the TO (lets call it BrokenTO) directly as response object, the other one has a TO (lets call it ObjectThatContainsBrokenTO) that includes the TO from the first API. This results in ObjectThatContainsBrokenTO having a reference to BrokenTO_1 not BrokenTO. The other API Spec parses correctly with BrokenTO reference.
I already verified the paths to the object in question are the same. I also tried putting both TO yaml descriptions into the same folder so the path is exactly the same

Affected Version

2.1.36 from the OpenAPI Generator

Context

openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: Our API
  version: 1.0.0
tags:
  - name: SomeTag

paths:
  /classified/path/:
    $ref: "ClassifiedAPI.yaml"
  /another/classified/path:
    $ref: "Classified2APIyaml"

#ClassifiedAPI.yaml
post:
  operationId: anotherOperationId
  parameters:
  requestBody:
    content:
      application/json:
        schema:
          $ref: 'ObjectThatContainsTheBrokenTO.yaml'
 

#ObjectThatContainsTheBrokenTO.yaml
type: "object"
properties:
  aparameter:
    $ref: "aTO.yaml"
  anotherparameter:
    $ref: "anotherTO.yaml"
  parameterinquestion:
    type: "array"
    items:
      $ref: "../folder/folder2/BrokenTO.yaml"

#Classified2APIyaml
get:
  operationId: someoperation
  parameters:
  # some parameters
  responses:
    '200':
      description: Ok!
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
              $ref: "../folder/folder2/BrokenTO.yaml"

Additional Details

These yaml definitions are generated as the BrokenTO.java class but also as a reference to BrokenTO_1 is generated into the Java files for ObjectThatContainsTheBrokenTO.java.

While debugging the generator code I found a difference in how the $refs are created and later stored in the cache. One time it has a leading ./ but the other time it has not.

Question: Why is the path prefixed with ./ in one case but not the other?
Follow up: Couldn't all paths be prefixed with ./ since it does not make a difference? To be extra sure the file is the same a hash could be used to verify the content is identical. Would you agree with that? Is that something for a PR?

I found the following discussions/issues but nothing that matched my use case and/or resolved it:

https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-parser/issues/1081#issuecomment-607169681
https://github.com/OpenAPITools/openapi-generator/issues/2701
https://github.com/OpenAPITools/openapi-generator/issues/20454

Thanks :)

Checklist

• I have searched the existing issues and documentation before asking.
• I have provided enough information for others to understand my question.

Start with ObjectThatContainsBrokenTO.yaml, Classified2APIyaml, and the ../folder/folder2/BrokenTO.yaml references; compare the two $ref strings at the cache boundary described in the issue. Use the supplied OpenAPI 3.0.3 reproducer to verify whether path normalization prevents BrokenTO_1 while preserving both generated BrokenTO.java references.