Compiler bug involving vararg of length 0?

[Zhong Yu]

The following code looks type safe, and compiles fine (jdk7u2b11)

    @SafeVarargs
    static <E> E[] newArray(int length, E... array)
    {
        return Arrays.copyOf(array, length);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        List<String>[] array = newArray(4);
    }

but at runtime it throws

    java.lang.ClassCastException: [Ljava.lang.Object; cannot be cast
to [Ljava.util.List;

Apparently, a new Object[0] is passed in as the vararg. Should that be a bug?

If the type argument is explicitly provided

        List<String>[] array = Test.<List<String>>newArray(4);

no runtime exception. But shouldn't it be equivalent to the inferred case?

Zhong Yu