Update release notes wrt #4121

Author: cowtowncoder

release-notes/CREDITS-2.x

@@ -1538,3 +1538,7 @@ Philippe Marschall (marschall@github)
 Gili Tzabari (cowwoc@github)
   * Reported #3063: `@JsonValue` fails for Java Record
   (2.14.2)
+
+Yury Molchan (yurkom@github)
+  * Contributed #4121: Preserve the original component type in merging to an array
+  (2.14.4)

release-notes/VERSION-2.x

@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Project: jackson-databind
 
 #3882: Error in creating nested `ArrayNode`s with `JsonNode.withArray()`
  (reported by @SaiKrishna369)
+#4121: Preserve the original component type in merging to an array
+ (contributed by Yury M)
 
 2.14.3 (05-May-2023)
 

src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/deser/merge/ArrayMergeTest.java

@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ static class MergedX<T>
         protected MergedX() { }
     }
 
-    static class Merged
+    // [databind#4121]
+    static class Merged4121
     {
         @JsonMerge(OptBoolean.TRUE)
         public Date[] value;
@@ -65,12 +66,12 @@ public void testObjectArrayMerging() throws Exception
         assertEquals("zap", result.value[2]);
     }
 
+    // [databind#4121]
     public void testComponentTypeArrayMerging() throws Exception
     {
-        Merged input = new Merged();
+        Merged4121 input = new Merged4121();
         input.value = new Date[] {new Date(1000L)};
-        final JavaType type = MAPPER.getTypeFactory().constructType(new TypeReference<Merged>() {});
-        Merged result = MAPPER.readerFor(type)
+        Merged4121 result = MAPPER.readerFor(Merged4121.class)
                 .withValueToUpdate(input)
                 .readValue(a2q("{'value':[2000]}"));
         assertSame(input, result);
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ public void testComponentTypeArrayMerging() throws Exception
         assertEquals(2000L, result.value[1].getTime());
 
         // and with one trick
-        result = MAPPER.readerFor(type)
+        result = MAPPER.readerFor(Merged4121.class)
                 .with(DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_SINGLE_VALUE_AS_ARRAY)
                 .withValueToUpdate(input)
                 .readValue(a2q("{'value':3000}"));