The point of having the override is to allow for serializing the data back out to the original source(s). NamedMetaDataWithDescriptionGroupWithOverride is for holding uniquely named jboss.xml data that applies to an override. I was trying various things to get the merged view, and ensureOverride is a hack I don't think should be used. Your right, that merged.merge(...) usage is incorrect relative to the current merge method impls. The standardjboss.xml case is a special case of a partial jboss.xml that is handled by the JBossMetaDataWrapper. I don't think we need another merge to support that. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4097426#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...