diff --git a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/BaseHome.java b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/BaseHome.java
index 8ac34054d01..063dfb41c6a 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/BaseHome.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/BaseHome.java
@@ -136,19 +136,34 @@ public class BaseHome
         Pattern jetty_home = Pattern.compile("(-D)?jetty.home=(.*)");
         Pattern jetty_base = Pattern.compile("(-D)?jetty.base=(.*)");
 
+        File homePath = null;
+        File basePath = null;
+
         for (String arg : args.getCommandLine())
         {
             Matcher home_match = jetty_home.matcher(arg);
             if (home_match.matches())
             {
-                setHomeDir(new File(home_match.group(2)));
+                homePath = new File(home_match.group(2));
             }
             Matcher base_match = jetty_base.matcher(arg);
             if (base_match.matches())
             {
-                setBaseDir(new File(base_match.group(2)));
+                basePath = new File(base_match.group(2));
             }
         }
+
+        if (homePath != null)
+        {
+            // logic if home is specified
+            this.homeDir = homePath;
+            this.baseDir = basePath == null?homePath:basePath;
+        }
+        else if (basePath != null)
+        {
+            // logic if home is undeclared
+            this.baseDir = basePath;
+        }
     }
 
     public boolean isBaseDifferent()
diff --git a/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/ConfigurationAssert.java b/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/ConfigurationAssert.java
index 7c1d469d6dc..1c0b269d4cd 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/ConfigurationAssert.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/ConfigurationAssert.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -97,6 +99,11 @@ public class ConfigurationAssert
         while (nameEnum.hasMoreElements())
         {
             String name = nameEnum.nextElement();
+            if ("jetty.home".equals(name) || "jetty.base".equals(name))
+            {
+                // strip these out from assertion, to make assertions easier.
+                continue;
+            }
             String value = args.getProperties().getProperty(name);
             actualProperties.add(name + "=" + value);
         }
@@ -105,13 +112,107 @@ public class ConfigurationAssert
 
     private static void assertContainsUnordered(String msg, Set<String> expectedSet, Set<String> actualSet)
     {
-        boolean mismatch = true;
+        // same size?
+        boolean mismatch = expectedSet.size() != actualSet.size();
+
+        // test content
+        Set<String> missing = new HashSet<>();
+        for (String expected : expectedSet)
+        {
+            if (!actualSet.contains(expected))
+            {
+                missing.add(expected);
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (mismatch || missing.size() > 0)
+        {
+            // build up detailed error message
+            StringWriter message = new StringWriter();
+            PrintWriter err = new PrintWriter(message);
+
+            err.printf("%s: Assert Contains (Unordered)",msg);
+            if (mismatch)
+            {
+                err.print(" [size mismatch]");
+            }
+            if (missing.size() >= 0)
+            {
+                err.printf(" [%d entries missing]",missing.size());
+            }
+            err.println();
+            err.printf("Actual Entries (size: %d)%n",actualSet.size());
+            for (String actual : actualSet)
+            {
+                char indicator = expectedSet.contains(actual)?' ':'>';
+                err.printf("%s| %s%n",indicator,actual);
+            }
+            err.printf("Expected Entries (size: %d)%n",expectedSet.size());
+            for (String expected : expectedSet)
+            {
+                char indicator = actualSet.contains(expected)?' ':'>';
+                err.printf("%s| %s",indicator,expected);
+            }
+            err.flush();
+            Assert.fail(message.toString());
+        }
     }
 
     private static void assertOrdered(String msg, List<String> expectedList, List<String> actualList)
     {
-        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
+        // same size?
+        boolean mismatch = expectedList.size() != actualList.size();
 
+        // test content
+        List<Integer> badEntries = new ArrayList<>();
+        int min = Math.min(expectedList.size(),actualList.size());
+        int max = Math.max(expectedList.size(),actualList.size());
+        for (int i = 0; i < min; i++)
+        {
+            if (!expectedList.get(i).equals(actualList.get(i)))
+            {
+                badEntries.add(i);
+            }
+        }
+        for (int i = min; i < max; i++)
+        {
+            badEntries.add(i);
+        }
+
+        if (mismatch || badEntries.size() > 0)
+        {
+            // build up detailed error message
+            StringWriter message = new StringWriter();
+            PrintWriter err = new PrintWriter(message);
+
+            err.printf("%s: Assert Contains (Unordered)",msg);
+            if (mismatch)
+            {
+                err.print(" [size mismatch]");
+            }
+            if (badEntries.size() >= 0)
+            {
+                err.printf(" [%d entries not matched]",badEntries.size());
+            }
+            err.println();
+            err.printf("Actual Entries (size: %d)%n",actualList.size());
+            for (int i = 0; i < actualList.size(); i++)
+            {
+                String actual = actualList.get(i);
+                char indicator = badEntries.contains(i)?'>':' ';
+                err.printf("%s[%d] %s%n",indicator,i,actual);
+            }
+
+            err.printf("Expected Entries (size: %d)%n",expectedList.size());
+            for (int i = 0; i < expectedList.size(); i++)
+            {
+                String expected = expectedList.get(i);
+                char indicator = badEntries.contains(i)?'>':' ';
+                err.printf("%s[%d] %s%n",indicator,i,expected);
+            }
+            err.flush();
+            Assert.fail(message.toString());
+        }
     }
 
     private static String getValue(String arg)
diff --git a/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/MainTest.java b/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/MainTest.java
index 949ccec8965..a556fc0bf83 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/MainTest.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/MainTest.java
@@ -25,24 +25,25 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Vector;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.toolchain.test.MavenTestingUtils;
-import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class MainTest
 {
-    @Before
-    public void setUp() throws Exception
+    private void addUseCasesHome(List<String> cmdLineArgs)
     {
         File testJettyHome = MavenTestingUtils.getTestResourceDir("usecases/home");
-        System.setProperty("jetty.home",testJettyHome.getAbsolutePath());
+        cmdLineArgs.add("jetty.home=" + testJettyHome);
     }
 
     @Test
     public void testBasicProcessing() throws Exception
     {
+        List<String> cmdLineArgs = new ArrayList<>();
+        addUseCasesHome(cmdLineArgs);
+        cmdLineArgs.add("jetty.port=9090");
+
         Main main = new Main();
-        StartArgs args = main.processCommandLine(new String[]
-        { "jetty.port=9090" });
+        StartArgs args = main.processCommandLine(cmdLineArgs.toArray(new String[cmdLineArgs.size()]));
         BaseHome baseHome = main.getBaseHome();
         System.err.println(args);
 
@@ -54,6 +55,8 @@ public class MainTest
     {
         List<String> cmdLineArgs = new ArrayList<>();
 
+        addUseCasesHome(cmdLineArgs);
+
         // JVM args
         cmdLineArgs.add("--exec");
         cmdLineArgs.add("-Xms1024m");
@@ -66,7 +69,7 @@ public class MainTest
 
         Main main = new Main();
 
-        StartArgs args = main.processCommandLine(cmdLineArgs.toArray(new String[6]));
+        StartArgs args = main.processCommandLine(cmdLineArgs.toArray(new String[cmdLineArgs.size()]));
         BaseHome baseHome = main.getBaseHome();
         System.err.println(args);
 
@@ -76,7 +79,7 @@ public class MainTest
     public void testJettyHomeWithSpaces()
     {
         List<String> cmdLineArgs = new ArrayList<>();
-        
+
         // main.addJvmArgs(jvmArgs);
         //
         // Classpath classpath = nastyWayToCreateAClasspathObject("/jetty/home with spaces/");
diff --git a/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/UseCases.java b/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/TestUseCases.java
similarity index 98%
rename from jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/UseCases.java
rename to jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/TestUseCases.java
index d8289854f9d..6b0bc0e1d30 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/UseCases.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/TestUseCases.java
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import org.junit.Test;
 /**
  * Various Home + Base use cases
  */
-public class UseCases
+public class TestUseCases
 {
     private void assertUseCase(String homeName, String baseName, String assertName) throws Exception
     {
diff --git a/jetty-start/src/test/resources/usecases/assert-barebones.txt b/jetty-start/src/test/resources/usecases/assert-barebones.txt
index 1349723c154..164f3f99f4b 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/test/resources/usecases/assert-barebones.txt
+++ b/jetty-start/src/test/resources/usecases/assert-barebones.txt
@@ -1,28 +1,15 @@
 # The XMLs we expect (order is important)
-XML|${jetty.home}/etc/jetty-jmx.xml
 XML|${jetty.home}/etc/jetty.xml
 XML|${jetty.home}/etc/jetty-http.xml
-XML|${jetty.home}/etc/jetty-plus.xml
-XML|${jetty.home}/etc/jetty-annotations.xml
-XML|${jetty.home}/etc/jetty-websockets.xml
 
 # The LIBs we expect (order is irrelevant)
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/annotations/javax.annotation-api-1.2.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/annotations/org.objectweb.asm-TEST.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-annotations-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-continuation-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-http-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-io-TEST.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-jmx-TEST.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-jndi-TEST.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-plus-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-schemas-3.1.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-security-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-server-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-util-TEST.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jetty-xml-TEST.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jndi/javax.activation-1.1.jar
-LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/jndi/javax.transaction-api-1.2.jar
 LIB|${jetty.home}/lib/servlet-api-3.1.jar
 
 # The Properties we expect (order is irrelevant)