Hibernate confusion. What are the differences between ga, GA and Final Releases? Compatibility? Repository?

Question

Can anyone please explain:
1. The difference between ga, GA and Final Hibernate releases?
2. Should I use the maven repository or the jboss nexus repository?
3. Why does the latest compatibility matrix (http://community.jboss.org/wiki/HibernateCompatibilityMatrix) not list anything higher than 3.2.6GA?

I'm using the following versions and I'm having the hardest time trying to figure out if I should upgrade:

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.6.ga</version>
        </dependency>           
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-annotations</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.0.ga</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-commons-annotations</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.0.ga</version>
        </dependency>        
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.1.ga</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-tools</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.0.ga</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
            <version>3.0.0.ga</version>
        </dependency>

Answer 1

The difference between ga, GA and Final Hibernate releases?

Final is the "new" JBoss convention and replaces the old GA (for General Availability) convention.

Should I use the maven repository or the jboss nexus repository?

Ultimate versions of JBoss artifacts might not be available in the central repository. If you want to use ultimate versions (e.g. Hibernate 3.5.3-Final), use the JBoss Nexus repository.

<repositories>
  <repository>
    <id>jboss-public-repository-group</id>
    <name>JBoss Public Repository Group</name>
    <url>https://repository.jboss.org/nexus/content/groups/public</url>
  </repository>
</repositories>

Why does the latest compatibility matrix not list anything higher than 3.2.6GA?

Well, for versions prior to 3.5, it does!

As of version 3.5.x versions, there is no need for the compatibility matrix anymore since Hibernate Core, Hibernate Annotations and Hibernate EntityManager are released together.

I'm using the following versions and I'm having the hardest time trying to figure out if I should upgrade:

If you want to use the ultimate JPA 1.0 version of Hibernate Entity Manager, simply declare the following:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
    <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
    <version>3.4.O.GA</version>
</dependency>

And you will get other artifacts transitively.