I've been in the midst of a daily back-and-forth email discussion with the app-schema developers on the GeoServer-Users mailing list. Reading through the conversation may be helpful, as they've already resolved a number of issues I've had. Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.nabble.com/Geoserver-2.0-availability---included-app-schema-capabilities-td24624783.html

I'd also like to say I'm extremely pleased with the helpfulness and responsiveness of the developers on these issues, and Ben Caradoc-Davies in particular. I really appreciate all your hard work.