[hibernate-issues] [Hibernate-JIRA] Updated: (HHH-3229) Merge can fail when there is a transient entity reachable by multiple paths and at least one path does not cascade on merge

Merge can fail when there is a transient entity reachable by multiple paths and at least one path does not cascade on merge --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key: HHH-3229 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-3229 Project: Hibernate3 Issue Type: Bug Components: core Affects Versions: 3.2.4.sp1, 3.2.5, 3.2.6 Reporter: Chris Bredesen Assignee: Gail Badner Fix For: 3.2.x, 3.3.0.CR2 Cascade rules are prone to different behavior based on the order in which properties appear in mapping XML. It is possible that an unexpected TransientObjectException may arise from certain operations when an object graph with circular references is merged (and possibly persisted/updated, etc). For example, if a transient instance is reachable through more than once path from a root entity, it is not clear whether operations will be cascaded to it. The order in which the properties are mapped plays a part in determining cascade paths, but the rules are not documented. Possible resolutions include: 1. Documenting the rules so that a programmer can make educated decisions about mapping. 2. Enhancing the algorithm such that order no longer matters and the rules are deterministic. 3. ???