Impossible cyclic requirement causes misleading error ----------------------------------------------------- Key: HHH-3026 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-3026 Project: Hibernate3 Issue Type: Improvement Affects Versions: 3.2.5 Reporter: Dobes Vandermeer When you create an impossible cycle, for example: class A { @OneToMany(inverse="a") List<A> listOfA = new ArrayList<A>(); @OneToOne(optional=false) B specialB; } class B { @ManyToOne(optional=false) A a; } It's actually impossible for hibernate to insert the B referenced by 'specialB', because in order to insert it, A must have a valid primary key. In order to insert A, b must have a primary key. This is fine, and I accept that hibernate does not work around this problem. However, the error message hibernate provides isn't just useless, it's actually misleading: "not-null property references a null or transient value" This message sent me on a useless multi-hour quest looking for a null or transient value, of which there were none. If possible, hibernate should detect and report this as cyclic dependency when it flushes, and print a nicer error like: "Instance of A requires B to have been inserted, but B also requires A to have been inserted; please make one of these properties nullable" -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. - If you think it was sent incorrectly contact one of the administrators: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/secure/Administrators.... - For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira