Index: import/leap/lib.php
===================================================================
--- import/leap/lib.php	(revision 8)
+++ import/leap/lib.php	(working copy)
@@ -124,6 +124,13 @@
         ;
         libxml_before(false);
         require_once('file.php');
+
+        /*
+
+         * following code commented out as it fails on  
+         * replacement is a little heavy on debugging
+         *   but it should be more helpful with xml errors
+
         if (!$this->xml = simplexml_load_string(
                 preg_replace(xml_filter_regex(), '', file_get_contents($this->filename)),
                 'SimpleXMLElement',
@@ -133,6 +140,37 @@
             libxml_after();
             throw new ImportException($this, "FATAL: XML file is not well formed! Please consult Mahara's error log for more information");
         }
+         */
+
+        libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
+        $raw_contents = file_get_contents( $this->filename );
+
+        // choking on   so let's replace them!
+        $cooked_contents = preg_replace( '/ /', ' ', $raw_contents );
+        $sxe = simplexml_load_string(
+                 preg_replace(xml_filter_regex(), '', $cooked_contents ),
+                'SimpleXMLElement',
+                $options
+            );
+        if( $sxe === false ) {
+            $msg = [];
+            $msg[] = 'FATAL: XML not well formed';
+            foreach(libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
+                $msg[] = $error->message;
+            }
+
+            // uncomment for even more data
+            // $msg[] = 'INPUT';
+            // $msg[] = $cooked_contents;
+            libxml_after();
+            $msgString = implode( "\n", $msg );
+            throw new ImportException( $this, $msgString );
+        }
+        // don't actually need 'else' just easier to understand what's going on
+        else {
+            $this->xml = $sxe;
+        }
+
         libxml_after();
 
         $this->namespaces = array_flip($this->xml->getDocNamespaces());