diff --git a/fdroidserver/update.py b/fdroidserver/update.py
index 7754ae4b..f463b55d 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/update.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/update.py
@@ -1760,33 +1760,32 @@ def main():
     for apk in apks:
         if apk['packageName'] not in apps:
             if options.create_metadata:
+                import yaml
                 with open(os.path.join('metadata', apk['packageName'] + '.yml'), 'w') as f:
                     # this should use metadata.App() and
                     # metadata.write_yaml(), but since ruamel.yaml
                     # 0.13 is not widely distributed yet, and it's
                     # special tricks are not really needed here, this
                     # uses the plain YAML lib
-                    app = dict()
+                    if os.path.exists('template.yml'):
+                        with open('template.yml') as fp:
+                            app = yaml.load(fp)
+                    else:
+                        app = dict()
+                        app['Categories'] = [os.path.basename(os.getcwd())]
+                        # include some blanks as part of the template
+                        app['AuthorName'] = ''
+                        app['Summary'] = ''
+                        app['WebSite'] = ''
+                        app['IssueTracker'] = ''
+                        app['SourceCode'] = ''
+                        app['CurrentVersionCode'] = 2147483647  # Java's Integer.MAX_VALUE
                     if 'name' in apk and apk['name'] != '':
                         app['Name'] = apk['name']
                     else:
                         logging.warning(apk['packageName'] + ' does not have a name! Using package name instead.')
                         app['Name'] = apk['packageName']
-                    app['Categories'] = [os.path.basename(os.getcwd())]
-                    # include some blanks as part of the template
-                    app['AuthorName'] = ''
-                    app['Summary'] = ''
-                    app['WebSite'] = ''
-                    app['IssueTracker'] = ''
-                    app['SourceCode'] = ''
-                    app['CurrentVersionCode'] = 2147483647  # Java's Integer.MAX_VALUE
-                    try:
-                        import ruamel.yaml
-                        assert ruamel.yaml  # silence pyflakes
-                        metadata.write_yaml(f, metadata.App(app))
-                    except ImportError:
-                        import yaml
-                        yaml.dump(app, f, default_flow_style=False)
+                    yaml.dump(app, f, default_flow_style=False)
                     logging.info("Generated skeleton metadata for " + apk['packageName'])
                     newmetadata = True
             else: