Two Steps Forward...
Another version of Ruby, a different set of REXML bugs.
Test case. Before:
OS: i486-linux Ruby: 1.8.6 REXML: 3.1.6 XML: <?xml version='1.0'?><root><a v='x & y'/><b v='x & y'/></root>
After:
OS: i686-linux Ruby: 1.9.0 REXML: 3.1.7.2 XML: <?xml version='1.0'?><root><a v='x & y'/><b v='x & y'/></root>
Sigh.