I guess the main argument for having x.merge(...) merge into x is is that if you don't have jboss a metadata instance to merge you have strange code vs just passing in null: | // Merge from empty self into self with spec | JBossObject x = new JBossObject(); | x.merge(x, spec); | | // Vs, merge spec | x.merge(null, spec); | View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4097470#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...