news-to-metainfo with yaml doesn't support paragraphs with bullet points

[vchernin]

Following examples here, I'm trying to write yaml release notes that can be converted to appstream metainfo.

Ideally I'd like paragraphs with bullet points roughly like:

Added
    - Cool new feature x
    - Cool new feature y

Bug fixes
    - Fixed bug a
    - Fixed bug b

However yaml-to-news and news-to-yaml --format=yaml doesn't seem to be able to preserve paragraphs with bullet points.

Demo of bug:
If you run metainfo-to-news --format=yaml on a metainfo file, then run news-to-metainfo --format=yaml on the same file the pargraph formatting is no longer preserved, the final metainfo release description is different from the original.

Working metainfo

From https://github.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/blob/master/data/com.usebottles.bottles.appdata.xml.in

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component type="desktop">
    <id>com.usebottles.bottles.desktop</id>
    <metadata_license>CC0-1.0</metadata_license>
    <project_license>GPL-3.0-or-later</project_license>
    <name>Bottles</name>
    <summary>Run Windows software</summary>
    <developer_name translatable="no">Mirko Brombin</developer_name>
    <description>
        <p>Run Windows software on Linux with Bottles!</p>
        <p>Bottle software and enjoy at your leisure!</p>
        <p>Our built-in dependency installation system grants automatic software
            compatibility access. Use the download manager to download the official components:
            the runner (Wine, Proton), DXVK, dependencies, etc.</p>
        <p>Bottle versioning keeps your work safe now and lets you restore it later!</p>
        <p>Features:</p>
        <ul>
          <li>Create bottles using preconfigured environments or create your own</li>
          <li>Run executables (.exe/.msi) in your bottles, directly from the context menu of your file-manager</li>
          <li>Automated detection of applications installed in your bottles</li>
          <li>Add environment variables quickly</li>
          <li>Override DLLs directly from per-bottle preferences</li>
          <li>On-the-fly runner change for any Bottle</li>
          <li>Various gaming-performance optimizations (esync, fsync, DXVK, cache, shader compiler, offload … and much more.)</li>
          <li>Automatic installation and management of Wine and Proton runners</li>
          <li>Automatic bottle repair in case of breakage</li>
          <li>Integrated dependency-installer based on a community-driven repository</li>
          <li>Integrated Task manager for Wine processes</li>
          <li>Access to ProtonDB and WineHQ for support</li>
          <li>System for bringing your configuration to new versions of Bottles</li>
          <li>Back up and import bottles</li>
          <li>Import Wine prefixes from other managers</li>
          <li>Bottles versioning (experimental)</li>
          <li>... and much more that you can find by installing Bottles!</li>
        </ul>
    </description>
    ​<mimetypes>
        <mimetype>application/x-ms-dos-executable</mimetype>
        <mimetype>application/x-msi</mimetype>
        <mimetype>application/x-ms-shortcut</mimetype>
        <mimetype>application/x-wine-extension-msp</mimetype>
    </mimetypes>
    <screenshots>
        <screenshot type="default">
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/screenshot.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/1.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/2.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/3.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/4.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/5.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/6.png</image>
        </screenshot>
        <screenshot>
            <image>https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/7.png</image>
        </screenshot>
    </screenshots>
    <translation type="gettext">com.usebottles.bottles</translation>
    <content_rating type="oars-1.1"/>
    <url type="homepage">https://usebottles.com</url>
    <url type="bugtracker">https://github.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/issues</url>
    <url type="help">https://docs.usebottles.com</url>
    <url type="donation">https://usebottles.com/funding</url>
    <url type="translate">https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/bottles</url>
    <recommends>
      <control>pointing</control>
      <control>keyboard</control>
      <control>touch</control>
    </recommends>
    <requires>
      <display_length compare="ge">768</display_length>
    </requires>
    <releases>
        <release version="2021.12.28-treviso" date="2021-12-27">
          <description>
            <p>News</p>
            <ul>
                <li>Bottles runtime updated to 0.2</li>
                <li>Caffe is now the new default runner, falling back to Vaniglia if not available</li>
                <li>New environment variables management, has also a nice new UI</li>
                <li>The new Operation manager handle tasks queue to avoid conflicts</li>
                <li>Improved xwayland support for runners when running in a wayland session</li>
                <li>Improved compatibility for optimus laptops</li>
                <li>Prevented value changes in preferences when scrolling on combo boxes</li>
                <li>Now the Crash Report dialog disable the send button if the report is already sent multiple times</li>
                <li>The new copy_file action can be used to copy any file during dependency installation</li>
                <li>Now is possible to rename manually added programs</li>
                <li>The uninstaller can now remove more than one program in one go (used by dependencies/installers)</li>
                <li>Improved DLSS support, now is automatically configured</li>
                <li>Extended the programs search to new directories</li>
            </ul>

            <p>Bug fixes</p>
            <ul>
                <li>Fixed onboard (first start-up) freeze on components download</li>
                <li>Fixed random crashes caused by non-safe thread access</li>
                <li>Fixed wayland support, was setting the wrong port for xwayland, the new method tests a bunch of ports to find the right one</li>
                <li>Fixed vkd3d installation, was failing due to a regression in command handling</li>
                <li>Fixed a crash during bottle creation caused by a non handled exception</li>
                <li>Fixed random crash saving environment variables</li>
                <li>Fixed a crash caused by the logger trying to split a None</li>
                <li>Fixed silent EasyTerm crash when gamemode is enabled but it doesn't find the executable</li>
                <li>Fixed wrong environment variables setting on non optimus laptops</li>
                <li>Fixed a crash caused by a non handled exception of Patool library</li>
                <li>Fixed Windows version change for winxp, was setting the wrong value for 64bit bottles</li>
                <li>Fixed a bug during initial checks</li>
            </ul>

            <p>Translations</p>
            <ul>
                <li>Chinese (Traditional) translations thanks to @XiaoPanPanKevinPan</li>
                <li>Italian translations thanks to @AlexzanDev, @phaerrax</li>
                <li>Czech translations thanks to @SoongVilda</li>
                <li>Russian translations thanks to @ZSHFan</li>
                <li>Finnish translations thanks to Jiri Grönroos</li>
                <li>French translations thanks to @GoudronViande24, @Bloombug, @julroy67</li>
                <li>Korean translations thanks to @OctopusET, @qogusdn1017</li>
                <li>Portuguese (Brazil) translations thanks to @redvulps, @davipatricio</li>
                <li>Vietnamese translations thanks to AD, Giai Ngo</li>
                <li>Portuguese translations thanks to @Bloombug</li>
                <li>Polish translations thanks to Krzysztof Marcinek</li>
                <li>Hindi translations thanks to @athenasaurav</li>
                <li>Spanish translations thanks to Alberto Cañaveras</li>
                <li>Indonesian translations thanks to neko</li>
                <li>German translations thanks to @McLutzifer, @Translator5</li>
                <li>Japanese translations thanks to @Hebi-no-Sekigae</li>
            </ul>
          </description>
        </release>
    </releases>
</component>

Then run:

appstreamcli metainfo-to-news --format=yaml com.usebottles.bottles.appdata.xml.in yaml_release_notes

Now converted to yaml release notes

---
Version: 2021.12.28-treviso
Date: 2021-12-27
Description: |-
  News
   * Bottles runtime updated to 0.2
   * Caffe is now the new default runner, falling back to Vaniglia if not available
   * New environment variables management, has also a nice new UI
   * The new Operation manager handle tasks queue to avoid conflicts
   * Improved xwayland support for runners when running in a wayland session
   * Improved compatibility for optimus laptops
   * Prevented value changes in preferences when scrolling on combo boxes
   * Now the Crash Report dialog disable the send button if the report is already sent multiple
     times
   * The new copy_file action can be used to copy any file during dependency installation
   * Now is possible to rename manually added programs
   * The uninstaller can now remove more than one program in one go (used by
     dependencies/installers)
   * Improved DLSS support, now is automatically configured
   * Extended the programs search to new directories

  Bug fixes
   * Fixed onboard (first start-up) freeze on components download
   * Fixed random crashes caused by non-safe thread access
   * Fixed wayland support, was setting the wrong port for xwayland, the new method tests a bunch of
     ports to find the right one
   * Fixed vkd3d installation, was failing due to a regression in command handling
   * Fixed a crash during bottle creation caused by a non handled exception
   * Fixed random crash saving environment variables
   * Fixed a crash caused by the logger trying to split a None
   * Fixed silent EasyTerm crash when gamemode is enabled but it doesn't find the executable
   * Fixed wrong environment variables setting on non optimus laptops
   * Fixed a crash caused by a non handled exception of Patool library
   * Fixed Windows version change for winxp, was setting the wrong value for 64bit bottles
   * Fixed a bug during initial checks

  Translations
   * Chinese (Traditional) translations thanks to @XiaoPanPanKevinPan
   * Italian translations thanks to @AlexzanDev, @phaerrax
   * Czech translations thanks to @SoongVilda
   * Russian translations thanks to @ZSHFan
   * Finnish translations thanks to Jiri Grönroos
   * French translations thanks to @GoudronViande24, @Bloombug, @julroy67
   * Korean translations thanks to @OctopusET, @qogusdn1017
   * Portuguese (Brazil) translations thanks to @redvulps, @davipatricio
   * Vietnamese translations thanks to AD, Giai Ngo
   * Portuguese translations thanks to @Bloombug
   * Polish translations thanks to Krzysztof Marcinek
   * Hindi translations thanks to @athenasaurav
   * Spanish translations thanks to Alberto Cañaveras
   * Indonesian translations thanks to neko
   * German translations thanks to @McLutzifer, @Translator5
   * Japanese translations thanks to @Hebi-no-Sekigae

Then run:

appstreamcli news-to-metainfo --format=yaml yaml_release_notes new-incorrect-metainfo

Now converted back to metainfo

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<component type="desktop-application">
  <id>com.usebottles.bottles.desktop</id>
  <name>Bottles</name>
  <summary>Run Windows software</summary>
  <metadata_license>CC0-1.0</metadata_license>
  <project_license>GPL-3.0-or-later</project_license>
  <developer_name>Mirko Brombin</developer_name>
  <description>
    <p>Run Windows software on Linux with Bottles!</p>
    <p>Bottle software and enjoy at your leisure!</p>
    <p>Our built-in dependency installation system grants automatic software
            compatibility access. Use the download manager to download the official components:
            the runner (Wine, Proton), DXVK, dependencies, etc.</p>
    <p>Bottle versioning keeps your work safe now and lets you restore it later!</p>
    <p>Features:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Create bottles using preconfigured environments or create your own</li>
      <li>Run executables (.exe/.msi) in your bottles, directly from the context menu of your file-manager</li>
      <li>Automated detection of applications installed in your bottles</li>
      <li>Add environment variables quickly</li>
      <li>Override DLLs directly from per-bottle preferences</li>
      <li>On-the-fly runner change for any Bottle</li>
      <li>Various gaming-performance optimizations (esync, fsync, DXVK, cache, shader compiler, offload … and much more.)</li>
      <li>Automatic installation and management of Wine and Proton runners</li>
      <li>Automatic bottle repair in case of breakage</li>
      <li>Integrated dependency-installer based on a community-driven repository</li>
      <li>Integrated Task manager for Wine processes</li>
      <li>Access to ProtonDB and WineHQ for support</li>
      <li>System for bringing your configuration to new versions of Bottles</li>
      <li>Back up and import bottles</li>
      <li>Import Wine prefixes from other managers</li>
      <li>Bottles versioning (experimental)</li>
      <li>... and much more that you can find by installing Bottles!</li>
    </ul>
  </description>
  <requires>
    <display_length>768</display_length>
  </requires>
  <recommends>
    <control>pointing</control>
    <control>keyboard</control>
    <control>touch</control>
  </recommends>
  <url type="homepage">https://usebottles.com</url>
  <url type="bugtracker">https://github.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/issues</url>
  <url type="help">https://docs.usebottles.com</url>
  <url type="donation">https://usebottles.com/funding</url>
  <url type="translate">https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/bottles</url>
  <provides>
    <mediatype>application/x-ms-dos-executable</mediatype>
    <mediatype>application/x-msi</mediatype>
    <mediatype>application/x-ms-shortcut</mediatype>
    <mediatype>application/x-wine-extension-msp</mediatype>
  </provides>
  <translation type="gettext">com.usebottles.bottles</translation>
  <screenshots>
    <screenshot type="default">
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/screenshot.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/1.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/2.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/3.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/4.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/5.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/6.png</image>
    </screenshot>
    <screenshot>
      <image type="source">https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles/master/data/appstream/7.png</image>
    </screenshot>
  </screenshots>
  <releases>
    <release type="stable" version="2021.12.28-treviso" date="2021-12-27T00:00:00Z">
      <description>
        <p>News
 * Bottles runtime updated to 0.2
 * Caffe is now the new default runner, falling back to Vaniglia if not available
 * New environment variables management, has also a nice new UI
 * The new Operation manager handle tasks queue to avoid conflicts
 * Improved xwayland support for runners when running in a wayland session
 * Improved compatibility for optimus laptops
 * Prevented value changes in preferences when scrolling on combo boxes
 * Now the Crash Report dialog disable the send button if the report is already sent multiple
   times
 * The new copy_file action can be used to copy any file during dependency installation
 * Now is possible to rename manually added programs
 * The uninstaller can now remove more than one program in one go (used by
   dependencies/installers)
 * Improved DLSS support, now is automatically configured
 * Extended the programs search to new directories</p>
        <p>Bug fixes
 * Fixed onboard (first start-up) freeze on components download
 * Fixed random crashes caused by non-safe thread access
 * Fixed wayland support, was setting the wrong port for xwayland, the new method tests a bunch of
   ports to find the right one
 * Fixed vkd3d installation, was failing due to a regression in command handling
 * Fixed a crash during bottle creation caused by a non handled exception
 * Fixed random crash saving environment variables
 * Fixed a crash caused by the logger trying to split a None
 * Fixed silent EasyTerm crash when gamemode is enabled but it doesn't find the executable
 * Fixed wrong environment variables setting on non optimus laptops
 * Fixed a crash caused by a non handled exception of Patool library
 * Fixed Windows version change for winxp, was setting the wrong value for 64bit bottles
 * Fixed a bug during initial checks</p>
        <p>Translations
 * Chinese (Traditional) translations thanks to @XiaoPanPanKevinPan
 * Italian translations thanks to @AlexzanDev, @phaerrax
 * Czech translations thanks to @SoongVilda
 * Russian translations thanks to @ZSHFan
 * Finnish translations thanks to Jiri Grönroos
 * French translations thanks to @GoudronViande24, @Bloombug, @julroy67
 * Korean translations thanks to @OctopusET, @qogusdn1017
 * Portuguese (Brazil) translations thanks to @redvulps, @davipatricio
 * Vietnamese translations thanks to AD, Giai Ngo
 * Portuguese translations thanks to @Bloombug
 * Polish translations thanks to Krzysztof Marcinek
 * Hindi translations thanks to @athenasaurav
 * Spanish translations thanks to Alberto Cañaveras
 * Indonesian translations thanks to neko
 * German translations thanks to @McLutzifer, @Translator5
 * Japanese translations thanks to @Hebi-no-Sekigae</p>
      </description>
    </release>
  </releases>
  <content_rating type="oars-1.1"/>
</component>

Notice how different the <releases> section is.

The issue isn't necessarily about that one can't convert metainfo perfectly back and forth. Rather, that there doesn't seem to be a way to define paragraphs with bullet points in the yaml release notes format. yaml-to-news --format=yaml not preserving the paragraphs is (presumbably) a reflection of that.

From what I can tell in the blog post's example, a news file instead of yaml should not experience this bug.

Note technically apptreamcli validate complains about the example metainfo (along with all the others I tried), but the warnings don't seem relevant.

[ximion]

This is a fairly rudimentary change, please check if it works for you! :-)