Test case:

Any Java EE app using Hibernate, any container
Specify any file with multiline SQL commands in the hibernate.hbm2ddl.import_files option, set hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto to create-drop in persistence.xml
Run application

org.hibernate.JDBCException: Error during import script execution at line 4
at org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport.importScript(SchemaExport.java:370)
at org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport.execute(SchemaExport.java:276)
at org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport.create(SchemaExport.java:219)
at org.hibernate.impl.SessionFactoryImpl.<init>(SessionFactoryImpl.java:372)
at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSessionFactory(Configuration.java:1872)
at org.hibernate.ejb.Ejb3Configuration.buildEntityManagerFactory(Ejb3Configuration.java:906)
at org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence.createContainerEntityManagerFactory(HibernatePersistence.java:74)
at org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.createNativeEntityManagerFactory(LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:268)
at org.springframework.orm.jpa.AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(AbstractEntityManagerFactoryBean.java:310)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1514)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1452)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:294)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:225)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:322)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:106)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1360)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1118)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:517)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:294)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:225)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:585)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:913)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:464)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:385)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:284)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:111)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4791)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5285)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:618)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:650)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployDescriptor.run(HostConfig.java:1582)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1110)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:603)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: com.mysql.jdbc.exceptions.jdbc4.MySQLSyntaxErrorException: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:525)
at com.mysql.jdbc.Util.handleNewInstance(Util.java:411)
at com.mysql.jdbc.Util.getInstance(Util.java:386)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:1052)
at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.checkErrorPacket(MysqlIO.java:3609)
at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.checkErrorPacket(MysqlIO.java:3541)
at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.sendCommand(MysqlIO.java:2002)
at com.mysql.jdbc.MysqlIO.sqlQueryDirect(MysqlIO.java:2163)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.execSQL(ConnectionImpl.java:2618)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.execSQL(ConnectionImpl.java:2568)
at com.mysql.jdbc.StatementImpl.execute(StatementImpl.java:842)
at com.mysql.jdbc.StatementImpl.execute(StatementImpl.java:681)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.DelegatingStatement.execute(DelegatingStatement.java:264)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.DelegatingStatement.execute(DelegatingStatement.java:264)
at org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport.importScript(SchemaExport.java:366)
... 46 more

(wrong, expected: no exception)

Reason: org.hibernate.tool.hbm2ddl.SchemaExport.importScript tries to execute the input script line by line. It does not seem complicated to simply concatenate consecutive lines instead (until one ending with a semicolon is found).

Note that this bug is annoying not because of difficulty finding a workaround, it is annoying because the exception message is obscure.