diff --git a/openjpa-xmlstore/pom.xml b/openjpa-xmlstore/pom.xml
index fb346a060..3d47911d8 100644
--- a/openjpa-xmlstore/pom.xml
+++ b/openjpa-xmlstore/pom.xml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
 
-            <!-- new way of using openjpa-maven-plugin to enhance classes
+            <!-- new way of using openjpa-maven-plugin to enhance classes -->
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
                 <artifactId>openjpa-maven-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@
                 <dependencies>
                     <dependency>
                         <groupId>org.apache.openjpa</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>openjpa-all</artifactId>
+                        <!-- use o-p-j instead of openjpa to avoid cyclical dependency in maven graph -->
+                        <artifactId>openjpa-persistence-jdbc</artifactId>
                         <version>${pom.version}</version>
                     </dependency>
                 </dependencies>
@@ -119,7 +120,6 @@
                     </systemProperties>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
-            -->
         </plugins>
     </build>
 
diff --git a/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/AllFieldTypes.java b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/AllFieldTypes.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..080755fbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/AllFieldTypes.java
@@ -0,0 +1,368 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.    
+ */
+package org.apache.openjpa.xmlstore.simple;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.math.BigDecimal;
+import java.math.BigInteger;
+import java.util.Calendar;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import javax.persistence.Entity;
+import javax.persistence.OneToOne;
+import javax.persistence.OneToMany;
+
+import org.apache.openjpa.persistence.PersistentCollection;
+
+@Entity
+public class AllFieldTypes implements Serializable {
+
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+
+    public static enum EnumType {Value1, Value2};
+    
+    // @Basic types
+    private short shortField;
+    private int intField;
+    private boolean booleanField;
+    private long longField;
+    private float floatField;
+    private char charField;
+    private double doubleField;
+    private byte byteField;
+    private Short wShortField;
+    private Integer wIntegerField;
+    private Boolean wBooleanField;
+    private Long wLongField;
+    private Float wFloatField;
+    private Character wCharacterField;
+    private Double wDoubleField;
+    private Byte wByteField;
+    private BigInteger bigIntegerField;
+    private BigDecimal bigDecimalField;
+    private String stringField;
+    private Date dateField;
+    private Calendar calendarField;
+    private java.sql.Date sqlDateField;
+    private java.sql.Time sqlTimeField;
+    private java.sql.Timestamp sqlTimestampField;
+    private byte[] byteLob;
+    private Byte[] wByteLob;
+    private char[] charLob;
+    private Character[] wCharacterLob;
+    private EnumType enumField;
+    private Serializable serializableField;
+    
+    // Additional types
+    private Set<String> setOfStrings = new HashSet<String>();
+    private String[] arrayOfStrings;
+
+    @PersistentCollection
+    private int[] arrayOfInts;
+
+    // one-to-one and one-to-many relations to self
+    @OneToOne
+    private AllFieldTypes selfOneOne;
+    @OneToMany
+    private List<AllFieldTypes> selfOneMany = new ArrayList<AllFieldTypes>();
+
+    public void setShortField(short shortField) {
+        this.shortField = shortField;
+    }
+
+    public short getShortField() {
+        return this.shortField;
+    }
+
+    public void setIntField(int intField) {
+        this.intField = intField;
+    }
+
+    public int getIntField() {
+        return this.intField;
+    }
+
+    public void setBooleanField(boolean booleanField) {
+        this.booleanField = booleanField;
+    }
+
+    public boolean getBooleanField() {
+        return this.booleanField;
+    }
+
+    public void setLongField(long longField) {
+        this.longField = longField;
+    }
+
+    public long getLongField() {
+        return this.longField;
+    }
+
+    public void setFloatField(float floatField) {
+        this.floatField = floatField;
+    }
+
+    public float getFloatField() {
+        return this.floatField;
+    }
+
+    public void setCharField(char charField) {
+        this.charField = charField;
+    }
+
+    public char getCharField() {
+        return this.charField;
+    }
+
+    public void setDoubleField(double doubleField) {
+        this.doubleField = doubleField;
+    }
+
+    public double getDoubleField() {
+        return this.doubleField;
+    }
+
+    public void setByteField(byte byteField) {
+        this.byteField = byteField;
+    }
+
+    public byte getByteField() {
+        return this.byteField;
+    }
+
+    public void setStringField(String stringField) {
+        this.stringField = stringField;
+    }
+
+    public String getStringField() {
+        return this.stringField;
+    }
+
+    public void setDateField(Date dateField) {
+        this.dateField = dateField;
+    }
+
+    public Date getDateField() {
+        return this.dateField;
+    }
+
+    public void setSetOfStrings(Set<String> setOfStrings) {
+        this.setOfStrings = setOfStrings;
+    }
+
+    public Set<String> getSetOfStrings() {
+        return this.setOfStrings;
+    }
+
+    public void setArrayOfStrings(String[] arrayOfStrings) {
+        this.arrayOfStrings = arrayOfStrings;
+    }
+
+    public String[] getArrayOfStrings() {
+        return this.arrayOfStrings;
+    }
+
+    public void setArrayOfInts(int[] arrayOfInts) {
+        this.arrayOfInts = arrayOfInts;
+    }
+
+    public int[] getArrayOfInts() {
+        return arrayOfInts;
+    }
+
+    public BigDecimal getBigDecimalField() {
+        return bigDecimalField;
+    }
+
+    public void setBigDecimalField(BigDecimal bigDecimalField) {
+        this.bigDecimalField = bigDecimalField;
+    }
+
+    public BigInteger getBigIntegerField() {
+        return bigIntegerField;
+    }
+
+    public void setBigIntegerField(BigInteger bigIntegerField) {
+        this.bigIntegerField = bigIntegerField;
+    }
+
+    public byte[] getByteLob() {
+        return byteLob;
+    }
+
+    public void setByteLob(byte[] byteLob) {
+        this.byteLob = byteLob;
+    }
+
+    public Calendar getCalendarField() {
+        return calendarField;
+    }
+
+    public void setCalendarField(Calendar calendarField) {
+        this.calendarField = calendarField;
+    }
+
+    public char[] getCharLob() {
+        return charLob;
+    }
+
+    public void setCharLob(char[] charLob) {
+        this.charLob = charLob;
+    }
+
+    public EnumType getEnumField() {
+        return enumField;
+    }
+
+    public void setEnumField(EnumType enumField) {
+        this.enumField = enumField;
+    }
+
+    public Serializable getSerializableField() {
+        return serializableField;
+    }
+
+    public void setSerializableField(Serializable serializableField) {
+        this.serializableField = serializableField;
+    }
+
+    public java.sql.Date getSqlDateField() {
+        return sqlDateField;
+    }
+
+    public void setSqlDateField(java.sql.Date sqlDateField) {
+        this.sqlDateField = sqlDateField;
+    }
+
+    public java.sql.Time getSqlTimeField() {
+        return sqlTimeField;
+    }
+
+    public void setSqlTimeField(java.sql.Time sqlTimeField) {
+        this.sqlTimeField = sqlTimeField;
+    }
+
+    public java.sql.Timestamp getSqlTimestampField() {
+        return sqlTimestampField;
+    }
+
+    public void setSqlTimestampField(java.sql.Timestamp sqlTimestampField) {
+        this.sqlTimestampField = sqlTimestampField;
+    }
+
+    public Boolean getWBooleanField() {
+        return wBooleanField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWBooleanField(Boolean booleanField) {
+        wBooleanField = booleanField;
+    }
+
+    public Byte getWByteField() {
+        return wByteField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWByteField(Byte byteField) {
+        wByteField = byteField;
+    }
+
+    public Byte[] getWByteLob() {
+        return wByteLob;
+    }
+
+    public void setWByteLob(Byte[] byteLob) {
+        wByteLob = byteLob;
+    }
+
+    public Character getWCharacterField() {
+        return wCharacterField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWCharacterField(Character characterField) {
+        wCharacterField = characterField;
+    }
+
+    public Character[] getWCharacterLob() {
+        return wCharacterLob;
+    }
+
+    public void setWCharacterLob(Character[] characterLob) {
+        wCharacterLob = characterLob;
+    }
+
+    public Double getWDoubleField() {
+        return wDoubleField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWDoubleField(Double doubleField) {
+        wDoubleField = doubleField;
+    }
+
+    public Float getWFloatField() {
+        return wFloatField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWFloatField(Float floatField) {
+        wFloatField = floatField;
+    }
+
+    public Integer getWIntegerField() {
+        return wIntegerField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWIntegerField(Integer integerField) {
+        wIntegerField = integerField;
+    }
+
+    public Long getWLongField() {
+        return wLongField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWLongField(Long longField) {
+        wLongField = longField;
+    }
+
+    public Short getWShortField() {
+        return wShortField;
+    }
+
+    public void setWShortField(Short shortField) {
+        wShortField = shortField;
+    }
+
+    public AllFieldTypes getSelfOneOne() {
+        return selfOneOne;
+    }
+    
+    public void setSelfOneOne(AllFieldTypes selfOneOne) {
+        this.selfOneOne = selfOneOne;
+    }
+
+    public List<AllFieldTypes> getSelfOneMany() {
+        return selfOneMany;
+    }
+
+    public void setSelfOneMany(List<AllFieldTypes> selfOneMany) {
+        this.selfOneMany = selfOneMany;
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/Place.java b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/Place.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d835198c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/Place.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.    
+ */
+package org.apache.openjpa.xmlstore.simple;
+
+import java.io.Serializable;
+
+import javax.persistence.Entity;
+import javax.persistence.Id;
+
+@Entity
+public class Place implements Serializable {
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+    
+    private String location;
+
+    @Id
+    public String getLocation() {
+        return location;
+    }
+
+    public void setLocation(String location) {
+        this.location = location;
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/TestPersistence.java b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/TestPersistence.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a6d6b9f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/java/org/apache/openjpa/xmlstore/simple/TestPersistence.java
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.    
+ */
+package org.apache.openjpa.xmlstore.simple;
+
+import javax.persistence.EntityManager;
+import javax.persistence.EntityTransaction;
+
+import org.apache.openjpa.persistence.OpenJPAEntityManager;
+import org.apache.openjpa.persistence.OpenJPAEntityManagerFactorySPI;
+import org.apache.openjpa.persistence.test.AbstractPersistenceTestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Simple XMLStore test case to get an EntityManager and perform some basic operations.
+ */
+public class TestPersistence extends AbstractPersistenceTestCase {
+
+    public void testCreateEntityManager() {
+        OpenJPAEntityManagerFactorySPI emf = createNamedEMF("xmlstore-simple");
+        try {
+            EntityManager em = emf.createEntityManager();
+
+            EntityTransaction t = em.getTransaction();
+            assertNotNull(t);
+            t.begin();
+            t.setRollbackOnly();
+            t.rollback();
+
+            // openjpa-facade test
+            assertTrue(em instanceof OpenJPAEntityManager);
+            OpenJPAEntityManager ojem = (OpenJPAEntityManager) em;
+            ojem.getFetchPlan().setMaxFetchDepth(1);
+            assertEquals(1, ojem.getFetchPlan().getMaxFetchDepth());
+            em.close();
+        } finally {
+            closeEMF(emf);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void testQuery() {
+        OpenJPAEntityManagerFactorySPI emf = createNamedEMF("xmlstore-simple",
+            CLEAR_TABLES, AllFieldTypes.class);
+        try {
+            EntityManager em = emf.createEntityManager();
+            em.getTransaction().begin();
+            AllFieldTypes aft = new AllFieldTypes();
+            aft.setStringField("foo");
+            aft.setIntField(10);
+            em.persist(aft);
+            em.getTransaction().commit();
+            em.close();
+
+            em = emf.createEntityManager();
+            em.getTransaction().begin();
+            assertEquals(1, em.createQuery
+                ("select x from AllFieldTypes x where x.stringField = 'foo'").
+                getResultList().size());
+            assertEquals(0, em.createQuery
+                ("select x from AllFieldTypes x where x.stringField = 'bar'").
+                getResultList().size());
+            assertEquals(1, em.createQuery
+                ("select x from AllFieldTypes x where x.intField >= 10").
+                getResultList().size());
+            em.getTransaction().rollback();
+            em.close();
+        } finally {
+            closeEMF(emf);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void testNewDeleteNew() {
+        OpenJPAEntityManagerFactorySPI emf = createNamedEMF("xmlstore-simple",
+            CLEAR_TABLES, Place.class);
+        try {
+            EntityManager em = emf.createEntityManager();
+
+            // create new
+            Place place = new Place();
+            place.setLocation("Lexington");
+            assertFalse(em.contains(place));
+            em.getTransaction().begin();
+            em.persist(place);
+            em.getTransaction().commit();
+            assertTrue(em.contains(place));
+
+            // find and verify
+            place = em.find(Place.class, "Lexington");
+            assertNotNull(place);
+            assertEquals("Lexington", place.getLocation());
+
+            // delete
+            em.getTransaction().begin();
+            em.remove(place);
+            em.getTransaction().commit();
+            assertFalse(em.contains(place));
+
+            // recreate
+            place = new Place();
+            place.setLocation("Lexington");
+            assertFalse(em.contains(place));
+            em.getTransaction().begin();
+            em.persist(place);
+            em.getTransaction().commit();
+            assertTrue(em.contains(place));
+
+            // find and verify
+            place = em.find(Place.class, "Lexington");
+            assertNotNull(place);
+            assertEquals("Lexington", place.getLocation());
+            em.close();
+        } finally {
+            closeEMF(emf);
+        }
+    }
+
+}
+
diff --git a/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6dda6cbfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openjpa-xmlstore/src/test/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ distributed with this work for additional information
+ regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ 
+ http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ 
+ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ under the License.   
+-->
+<persistence xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence"
+    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+    version="2.0">
+
+    <persistence-unit name="xmlstore-simple">
+        <class>org.apache.openjpa.xmlstore.simple.AllFieldTypes</class>
+        <class>org.apache.openjpa.xmlstore.simple.Place</class>
+        <properties>
+            <property name="openjpa.ConnectionURL"
+                      value="target/openjpa-xmlstore-db" />
+            <property name="openjpa.BrokerFactory"
+                      value="org.apache.openjpa.abstractstore.AbstractStoreBrokerFactory" />
+            <property name="openjpa.abstractstore.AbstractStoreManager"
+                      value="org.apache.openjpa.xmlstore.XMLStoreManager" /> 
+            <property name="openjpa.LockManager"
+                      value="org.apache.openjpa.kernel.VersionLockManager" />
+            <!--
+            <property name="openjpa.jdbc.SynchronizeMappings"
+                value="buildSchema" />
+            <property name="openjpa.jdbc.SynchronizeMappings"
+                value="builma(ForeignKeys=true)"/>
+            -->
+        </properties>
+    </persistence-unit>
+
+</persistence>
+
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a1ac49398..ed1dd796c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -728,7 +728,7 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.geronimo.specs</groupId>
                 <artifactId>geronimo-jpa_2.0_spec</artifactId>
-                <version>1.0</version>
+                <version>1.2</version>
             </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.geronimo.specs</groupId>
@@ -743,7 +743,7 @@
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.geronimo.specs</groupId>
                 <artifactId>geronimo-validation_1.0_spec</artifactId>
-                <version>1.0</version>
+                <version>1.1</version>
             </dependency>            
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.derby</groupId>
@@ -1141,4 +1141,22 @@
         </plugins>
     </reporting>
 
+    <!-- added so the build can find stagged Geronimo Spec artifacts -->
+    <repositories>
+        <repository>
+            <id>apache.nexus.staging</id>
+            <name>Apache Staging Repository</name>
+            <layout>default</layout>
+            <url>https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/staging/</url>
+            <snapshots>
+                <enabled>false</enabled>
+            </snapshots>
+            <releases>
+                <enabled>true</enabled>
+                <updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
+                <checksumPolicy>warn</checksumPolicy>
+            </releases>
+        </repository>
+    </repositories>
+
 </project>