I installed the appstream package from the cosmic repository (0.12.2-2) in my bionic VM, and the crash went away. Looks like this might be https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=906538, reported upstream as https://github.com/ximion/appstream/issues/198 and fixed with https://github.com/ximion/appstream/commit/734e9da66bf12fcaa94c10465db2dcf8bb2b94cb.
** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #906538 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=906538 ** Bug watch added: github.com/ximion/appstream/issues #198 https://github.com/ximion/appstream/issues/198 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1792537 Title: /usr/bin/appstreamcli:5:g_variant_new_parsed_va:g_variant_builder_add_parsed:as_content_rating_to_variant:as_component_to_variant:as_cache_file_save To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/appstream/+bug/1792537/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs