There's no need to start issuing warnings. This stuff has never been released GA. The correct order for this processing is (and should always have been - if the user is explicit, do what they want): 1) Any class specified on the list element (like above) - new collection 2) Any class specified on the parent element (the typeInfo passed into getValue), e.g. | <property name="blah" class="java.util.ArrayList"><list/></property> | - new collection 3) The getter - use the returned collection (if any) 4) the default collection type - new collection The only reason for the preinstantiated flag would be to turn off (3) but you can always do this anyway by using (1) or (2). View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4060437#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...