diff --git a/jetty-distribution/pom.xml b/jetty-distribution/pom.xml
index 92fe65ff2e0..0f25efd50a3 100644
--- a/jetty-distribution/pom.xml
+++ b/jetty-distribution/pom.xml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   <url>http://www.eclipse.org/jetty</url>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <properties>
-    <assembly-directory>target/distribution</assembly-directory>
+    <assembly-directory>${basedir}/target/distribution</assembly-directory>
     <jetty-setuid-version>1.0.1</jetty-setuid-version>
   </properties>
   <build>
@@ -466,18 +466,18 @@
         <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
         <executions>
           <execution>
-            <phase>package</phase>
+            <phase>process-classes</phase>
             <goals>
-              <goal>exec</goal>
+              <goal>java</goal>
             </goals>
           </execution>
         </executions>
         <configuration>
-          <executable>java</executable>
-          <workingDirectory>${assembly-directory}</workingDirectory>
+          <mainClass>org.eclipse.jetty.start.Main</mainClass>
           <arguments>
-            <argument>-jar</argument>
-            <argument>start.jar</argument>
+            <argument>--debug</argument>
+            <argument>jetty.home=${assembly-directory}</argument>
+            <argument>jetty.base=${assembly-directory}</argument>
             <argument>--module-start-ini=server,deploy,http,websocket,jsp,ext,resources</argument>
           </arguments>
         </configuration>
diff --git a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartArgs.java b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartArgs.java
index 6f891b68bed..57f4cee27dd 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartArgs.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/StartArgs.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public class StartArgs
 
     // TODO: might make sense to declare this in modules/base.mod
     private static final String SERVER_MAIN = "org.eclipse.jetty.xml.XmlConfiguration";
-    
+
     private List<String> commandLine = new ArrayList<>();
     private Set<String> modules = new HashSet<>();
     private Map<String, List<String>> sources = new HashMap<>();
@@ -579,9 +579,21 @@ public class StartArgs
         }
     }
 
-    public void parse(String arg, String source)
+    public void parse(final String rawarg, String source)
     {
-        if (arg.trim().startsWith("#"))
+        if (rawarg == null)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final String arg = rawarg.trim();
+
+        if (arg.length() <= 0)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (arg.startsWith("#"))
         {
             return;
         }
@@ -751,7 +763,7 @@ public class StartArgs
         }
 
         // Anything else is unrecognized
-        throw new UsageException(ERR_BAD_ARG,"Unrecognized argument: %s in %s",arg,source);
+        throw new UsageException(ERR_BAD_ARG,"Unrecognized argument: \"%s\" in %s",arg,source);
     }
 
     public void parseCommandLine()
diff --git a/tests/test-webapps/test-jetty-webapp/src/main/config/demo-base/start.ini b/tests/test-webapps/test-jetty-webapp/src/main/config/demo-base/start.ini
index 565a7c8fc90..d8f52628564 100644
--- a/tests/test-webapps/test-jetty-webapp/src/main/config/demo-base/start.ini
+++ b/tests/test-webapps/test-jetty-webapp/src/main/config/demo-base/start.ini
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 # We want to serve content over http
 --module=http
+jetty.port=8080
 
 # Have webapps be deployed normally from webapps directory
 --module=deploy