JOSM cannot open file if it contains the char & in the url/name

[baditaflorin]

When i try to open this file in JOSM, i get this error, that it`s cryptic and does not tell nothing about what the real error is.

This is happening because of the & in the url.

If i delete the & i will be able to load the file.
But this not solve the problem, this is a valid url.
Also, the same problem appears when adding a name that contains the char &

For the file fake_bbox_area14.osm, it will fail to load because of the & char.

If you try and download the data, it will work.
You can try to download this intersection from here
​https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=20/40.8225406908153/-73.94183800888834

[bastiK]

The error message may be cryptic, but it is correct. In an XML document, the "&" character needs to be written as "&". It is outside the scope of the JOSM project to improve the error messages of the Java XML library.

[stoecker]

The error message may be cryptic, but it is completely valid. For XML "&step" is an entity (like & is) and this entity is unfinished as the ';' is missing.

In case of XML errors try xmllint (or any other XML validator) as a second instance.

Please tell the developers of the software creating the file that they should fix their XML export.