Getting Started with Hibernate 3

Get Hibernate

Here we go, preliminaries accomplished, time for the main event! Downloading Hibernate is a lot like downloading HSQLDB…or any other free, open source Java package. Start with the Hibernate home page at http://hibernate.org/ and find the Download link, which is again on the lefthand side in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Download link on the Hibernate home page

The Binary Releases section will tell you which version of Hibernate Core is recommended for downloading; follow that advice. (If you want to be brave, you can try a Development release, but the safest bet is to stick with the latest Production version.) Once you’ve made your choice, click the Download link in the corresponding row (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Hibernate binary releases

This takes you to a SourceForge downloads page containing your chosen release, in a choice of archive formats. Pick your favorite and download it. The filename will look something like hibernate-3.x.y.tar.gz or hibernate-3.x.y.zip.

Pick a place that is suitable for keeping such items around, and expand the archive. We’ll will use part of it in the next step and investigate more of it later on. You may also want to poke around in there some yourself.

While you’re on the Hibernate downloads page, also pick up the Hibernate Tools. They offer several useful ...