Partial fix for #1102; use of SimpleType itself works to some degree

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/CollectionLikeType.java

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public static CollectionLikeType construct(Class<?> rawType, TypeBindings bindin
     public static CollectionLikeType construct(Class<?> rawType, JavaType elemT) {
         return new CollectionLikeType(rawType, null, 
                 // !!! TODO: wrong, probably has super-types, but:
-                null, null,
+                _bogusSuperClass(rawType), null,
                 elemT, null, null, false);
     }
 

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/CollectionType.java

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ public static CollectionType construct(Class<?> rawType, JavaType elemT) {
         // nominally component types will be just Object.class
         return new CollectionType(rawType, null,
                 // !!! TODO: Wrong, does have supertypes, but:
-                null, null, elemT,
+                _bogusSuperClass(rawType), null, elemT,
                 null, null, false);
     }
 

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/MapLikeType.java

@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ public static MapLikeType upgradeFrom(JavaType baseType, JavaType keyT, JavaType
 
     @Deprecated // since 2.7
     public static MapLikeType construct(Class<?> rawType, JavaType keyT, JavaType valueT) {
-        return new MapLikeType(rawType, null, null, null, keyT, valueT, null, null, false);
+        return new MapLikeType(rawType, null, _bogusSuperClass(rawType), null,
+                keyT, valueT, null, null, false);
     }
 
     @Override

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/MapType.java

@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ public static MapType construct(Class<?> rawType, TypeBindings bindings,
     @Deprecated // since 2.7
     public static MapType construct(Class<?> rawType, JavaType keyT, JavaType valueT) {
         // !!! TODO: Wrong, does have supertypes
-        return new MapType(rawType, null, null, null, keyT, valueT, null, null, false);
+        return new MapType(rawType, null, _bogusSuperClass(rawType), null,
+                keyT, valueT, null, null, false);
     }
 
     @Override

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/SimpleType.java

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ public static SimpleType constructUnsafe(Class<?> raw) {
     @Deprecated
     public static SimpleType construct(Class<?> cls)
     {
+
         /* Let's add sanity checks, just to ensure no
          * Map/Collection entries are constructed
          */
@@ -113,9 +114,11 @@ public static SimpleType construct(Class<?> cls)
         if (cls.isArray()) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("Can not construct SimpleType for an array (class: "+cls.getName()+")");
         }
-        return new SimpleType(cls);
+        return new SimpleType(cls, TypeBindings.emptyBindings(),
+                // 18-Oct-2015, tatu: Should be ok to pass very minimal supertype info?
+                _bogusSuperClass(cls), null, null, null, false);
     }
-
+    
     @Override
     protected JavaType _narrow(Class<?> subclass)
     {

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/TypeBase.java

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
-
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.*;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.jsontype.TypeSerializer;
 
@@ -243,4 +242,21 @@ else if (cls == Void.TYPE) {
         }
         return sb;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Internal helper method used to figure out nominal super-class for
+     * deprecated factory methods / constructors, where we are not given
+     * properly resolved supertype hierarchy.
+     * Will basically give `JavaType` for `java.lang.Object` for classes
+     * other than `java.lafgn.Object`; null for others.
+     *
+     * @since 2.7
+     */
+    protected static JavaType _bogusSuperClass(Class<?> cls) {
+        Class<?> parent = cls.getSuperclass();
+        if (parent == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        return TypeFactory.unknownType();
+    }
 }

src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/failing/DeprecatedTypeHandlingTest.java → src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/failing/DeprecatedTypeHandling1102Test.java

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  * Set of tests to ensure that changes between 2.6 and 2.7 can
  * be handled somewhat gracefully.
  */
-public class DeprecatedTypeHandlingTest extends BaseMapTest
+public class DeprecatedTypeHandling1102Test extends BaseMapTest
 {
     static class Point {
         public int x;
@@ -22,28 +22,31 @@ static class Point {
     }
 
     final ObjectMapper MAPPER = objectMapper();
-    
+
     @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
-    public void testExplicitCollectionType() throws Exception
+    public void testSimplePOJOType() throws Exception
     {
         JavaType elem = SimpleType.construct(Point.class);
 
         Point p = MAPPER.readValue(aposToQuotes("{'x':1,'y':2}"), elem);
         assertNotNull(p);
         assertEquals(1, p.x);
         assertEquals(2, p.getY());
-
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
+    public void testExplicitCollectionType() throws Exception
+    {
+        JavaType elem = SimpleType.construct(Point.class);
         final String json = aposToQuotes("[ {'x':1,'y':2}, {'x':3,'y':6 }]");
 
-        System.err.println("ELEM -> "+elem);
-System.err.println("ELEM.raw -> "+elem.getRawClass());
         JavaType t = CollectionType.construct(List.class, elem);
         List<Point> l = MAPPER.readValue(json, t);
         assertNotNull(l);
         assertEquals(2, l.size());
         Object ob = l.get(0);
         assertEquals(Point.class, ob.getClass());
-        p = (Point) ob;
+        Point p = (Point) ob;
         assertEquals(1, p.x);
         assertEquals(2, p.getY());
     }