The source code is distributed in the root directory of the download. It is also available through SVN.

Yes. Create your CacheManager using new CacheManager(...) and keep hold of the reference. The singleton approach, accessible with the getInstance(...) method, is also available. Remember that Ehcache can support hundreds of caches within one CacheManager. You would use separate CacheManagers where you want different configurations. The Hibernate EhCacheProvider has also been updated to support this behavior.

The documentation has been updated with comprehensive coverage of the schema for Ehcache and all elements and attributes, including whether they are mandatory. See "Configuring Cache" in the Ehcache Configuration Guide.

Automatic element versioning works only with unclustered MemoryStore caches. Distributed caches or caches that use off-heap or disk stores cannot use auto-versioning. (Distributed caches require Terracotta BigMemory Max, and off-heap storage requires either Terracotta BigMemory Max or BigMemory Go.)

To enable auto-versioning, set the system property net.sf.ehcache.element.version.auto to true (it is false by default). Manual (user provided) versioning of cache elements is ignored when auto-versioning is in effect. Note that if this property is turned on for one of the ineligible caches, auto-versioning will silently fail.