diff --git a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java
index 69112f8f319..f734d642562 100644
--- a/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java
+++ b/jetty-start/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/start/Main.java
@@ -659,7 +659,7 @@ public class Main
         throw new FileNotFoundException("Unable to find XML Config: " + xmlFilename);
     }
 
-    private String buildCommandLine(Classpath classpath, List<String> xmls) throws IOException
+    String buildCommandLine(Classpath classpath, List<String> xmls) throws IOException
     {
         StringBuilder cmd = new StringBuilder();
         cmd.append(findJavaBin());
@@ -1090,4 +1090,9 @@ public class Main
 
         return args;
     }
+
+    void addJvmArgs(List<String> jvmArgs)
+    {
+        _jvmArgs.addAll(jvmArgs);
+    }
 }
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 63143c7c377..9ebcaf4f18e 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
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jetty.start;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.toolchain.test.MavenTestingUtils;
@@ -53,18 +55,18 @@ public class MainTest
     public void testExpandCommandLine() throws Exception
     {
         Main main = new Main();
-        List<String> args = main.expandCommandLine(new String[]{});
+        List<String> args = main.expandCommandLine(new String[] {});
         assertEquals("start.ini OPTIONS","OPTIONS=Server,jsp,resources,websocket,ext",args.get(0));
         assertEquals("start.d/jmx OPTIONS","OPTIONS=jmx",args.get(5));
         assertEquals("start.d/jmx XML","--pre=etc/jetty-jmx.xml",args.get(6));
         assertEquals("start.d/websocket OPTIONS","OPTIONS=websocket",args.get(7));
     }
-    
+
     @Test
     public void testProcessCommandLine() throws Exception
     {
         Main main = new Main();
-        List<String> args = main.expandCommandLine(new String[]{});
+        List<String> args = main.expandCommandLine(new String[] {});
         List<String> xmls = main.processCommandLine(args);
 
         assertEquals("jmx --pre","etc/jetty-jmx.xml",xmls.get(0));
@@ -72,4 +74,27 @@ public class MainTest
         assertEquals("start.d","etc/jetty-testrealm.xml",xmls.get(5));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testBuildCommandLine() throws IOException
+    {
+        List<String> jvmArgs = new ArrayList<String>();
+        jvmArgs.add("--exec");
+        jvmArgs.add("-Xms1024m");
+        jvmArgs.add("-Xmx1024m");
+
+        List<String> xmls = new ArrayList<String>();
+        xmls.add("jetty.xml");
+        xmls.add("jetty-jmx.xml");
+        xmls.add("jetty-logging.xml");
+
+        Main main = new Main();
+        main.addJvmArgs(jvmArgs);
+
+        String commandLine = main.buildCommandLine(new Classpath(""),xmls);
+        assertTrue("CommandLine shouldn't be null",commandLine != null);
+        assertTrue("CommandLine should contain jvmArgs",commandLine.contains("--exec -Xms1024m -Xmx1024m"));
+        assertTrue("CommandLine should contain xmls",commandLine.contains("jetty.xml jetty-jmx.xml jetty-logging.xml"));
+
+    }
+
 }