Bugs are a hastle. And open source can be a blessing.
See for instance my (small) contribution:
http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=34090

------- Additional Comment #4 From Jos Coenen 2007-08-21 08:23 [reply] -------

This bug is actually fixed in (or before) apache-tomcat-6.0.14:

   public Class resolveClass(ObjectStreamClass classDesc)
       throws ClassNotFoundException, IOException {
       try {
           return Class.forName(classDesc.getName(), false, classLoader);
       } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
           // Try also the superclass because of primitive types
           return super.resolveClass(classDesc);
       }
   }

So this bug can be closed and Michael, yes you were right all the way.

It can take a while before people can admit you are right.