doc(spec): deprecate the features key

[bfabio]

longDescription already allows basic markdown including bullet points and can hold the same content.

Typically features is poorly maintained and filled only to satisfy the validator. The main description can also detail the features better, with a longer explanation and rich text.

[vercel]

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
publiccode-yml	Ready	Preview	Aug 26, 2026 1:59pm

[bfabio]

@yaml-9000 minor

[yaml-9000]

Thanks for your contribution 🙏

This is now marked as a minor-change proposal to the standard,
this means that old versions of publiccode.yml will still be valid with this change.

Example of minor changes are additions of new keys or making keys optional.

The next eligible voting round will take place on September 30, 2026

cc @publiccodeyml/steering-committee

_{📄 Voting procedure | 📄 Working Group Charter | 🤖 bot commands}

[dptdgi]

This feature is used in:

https://teamdigitale.github.io/devita-ccros-valcomp-software-pa/ by @mfortini

to automate the comparison. Open the tool and load an example to see how it is used:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/teamdigitale/devita-ccros-valcomp-software-pa/refs/heads/main/publiccode.yml

We need to keep a machine readable list of features to not break the existing tool.

[mfortini]

We developed the new version of the comparative evaluation software trying to exploit the information we can find in the publiccode.yml

The intent was:

• define requirements
• see if feature(s) cover any requirements
• map each feature to a requirement, or add a new requirement you forgot based on a declared feature

This would hopefully push developers to declare features correctly and extensively, while it would help someone who would like to develop a software by being able to find a minimal set of common features.

Following this line of thought, we'd see more fit to define better the scope of the features, even by adding a shared common controlled vocabulary/taxonomy, so that we avoid unnecessary proliferation of features and agree on the meaning.