[MNG-7559] Fix versions comparison, backport to 3.9.x

[sultan]

This PR can be merged, If wanted to port (to 3.9.x) the fix for https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MNG-7559
intention is:

• 1.0.0.RC1 < 1.0.0-RC2
• ( edr, pfd, etc.) < final, ga, release
• 9.4.1.jre16 > 9.4.1.jre16-preview

following semver rules should be encouraged, natural ordering is used without the need to hard code strings, except for hard coded qualifiers 'a', 'b', 'm', 'cr', 'snapshot', 'final', 'ga', 'release', '' and 'sp':

• alpha = a < beta = b < milestone = m < rc = cr < 'snapshot' < '' = 'final' = 'ga' = 'release' < 'sp'

the documentation should discourage the usage of 'CR', 'final', 'ga', 'release' and 'SP' qualifiers.
Maven Central should begin to reject new artifact using CR and SP qualifiers.

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[sultan]

this is a backport from maven 4 to maven 3:

• [MNG-7559] Fix versions comparison #845

the quoted PR had successful result on CI. any help appreciated on passing this PR results

[michael-o]

@sultan Commit on master reverted. Let's start fresh and correctly on master first.

[sultan]

@sultan Commit on master reverted. Let's start fresh and correctly on master first.

Done on master

• PR [MNG-7559] Fix version comparison (master 4.0.x branch) #929

[michael-o]

Closing this since it does not qualify for 3.x.

[jira-importer]

Resolve #8891