#323 colon in value cause yaml.load() throw error

Instead of updating/modifying the yaml parser, one of the workaround
solutions is to put a pipe, '|' to indicate the whole value as a string.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11301650/how-to-escape-indicator-characters-i-e-or-in-yaml/22483116#22483116 

Signed-off-by: Chin Yeung Li <[email protected]>

Author: chinyeungli

src/attributecode/model.py

@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ def serialize(self):
             value = value.splitlines(True)
             # multi-line
             if len(value) > 1:
-                # This code is used to read the YAML's multi-line format in
+                # This code is used to read the YAML's multi-line format saneyaml.loadin
                 # ABOUT files
                 # (Test: test_loads_dumps_is_idempotent)
                 if value[0].strip() == u'|' or value[0].strip() == u'>':
@@ -175,7 +175,16 @@ def serialize(self):
                     # insert 4 spaces for newline values
                     value = u'    '.join(value)
             else:
-                value = u''.join(value)
+                # See https://github.com/nexB/aboutcode-toolkit/issues/323
+                # The yaml.load() will throw error if the parsed value
+                # contains ': ' character. A work around is to put a pipe, '|'
+                # to indicate the whole value as a string
+                if value and ': ' in value[0]:
+                    value.insert(0, u'|\n')
+                    # insert 4 spaces for newline values
+                    value = u'    '.join(value)
+                else:
+                    value = u''.join(value)
 
         serialized = u'%(name)s:' % locals()
         if value:

tests/test_model.py

@@ -1068,6 +1068,21 @@ def test_write_output_json(self):
         expected = get_test_loc('load/expected.json')
         check_json(expected, result)
 
+    def test_colon_in_value(self):
+        test = u'''about_resource: .
+name: AboutCode
+version: v: 0.11.0
+'''
+        expected = u'''about_resource: .
+name: AboutCode
+version: |
+    v: 0.11.0
+'''
+        a = model.About()
+        base_dir = 'some_dir'
+        a.loads(test, base_dir)
+        dumped = a.dumps(with_absent=False, with_empty=False)
+        assert dumped == expected
 
 class CollectorTest(unittest.TestCase):