The problem is now solved, it seems to be that hibernates parser does not support all that EJB-QL did previously. Most of the problems centered around using the AS keyword within a join: SELECT DISTINCT OBJECT( p ) FROM Principal AS p, IN (p.roles) role AS r WHERE ...... This worked in EJB 2.1 finder methods but does not deploy with EJB3 hibernate, should be: SELECT DISTINCT OBJECT( p ) FROM Principal AS p, IN (p.roles) role r WHERE ...... View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4080803#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...