Copy and Paste
If I copy and paste measures with a rest (4/4), I get a rest placed in the beginning of the measure :
in the xml, the result is : (xml "<" and ">" signs stripped off to make readable the text)
Measure number="36"
Rest
durationType measure /durationType
/Rest
/Measure
Measure number="37"
Res>
durationType whole /durationType
/Rest
/Measure
"measure" is replaced by "whole"
After a search and replace of "whole" by "measure" (with gedit), the score is Ok.
Comments
You don't need gedit to solve that one. Just select a measure and press Del. A rest at the beginning of the measure is a true whole note rest. A rest in the center is a full measure rest.