There are 2 methods you can run Apache Roller.

1)Test Run using maven goal (mvn jetty:run).
2) Deploy the war file in a webapp , configure and then run.

It is important for a developer to Remote debug the instance with maven goal without deploying to the App server.This tutorial shows how to debug the test run.

Importing Source code to Intellij IDEA.

check out the source code from SVN repository.

   svn co https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/roller/trunk roller_trunk 

Creat IDE related project files.

   mvn idea:idea

Click file -->open project

To add Remote Debug configuration (after you import the project).

Click on Run --. Edit Configuration.You will get a window titled run/debug configuration.Click on the + mark which appears on left top corner.Select Remote from the list

Add a suitable name. (I have used roller-debug)

You have to give 2 parameters host & a port to use for debug . eg: Host : localhost , port: 5005 and then click ok.

Run maven command using command line.

Set MAVEN_OPTS environment variables with following command.

 export MAVEN_OPTS='-Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=5005,server=y,suspend=y'

Remember here you have to give the address which you gave as the debug port in IDE.

Run in command line

You need to navigate to weblogger-webapp folder first

cd weblogger-webapp

mvn jetty:run

You will observe in the command line that it listen for port 5005. (assuming address =5005)

Go to IDE and then click run--.debug and select the configuration we set. (roller-debug in our example).

If it is success you will get a message as, "Connected to the target VM, address: 'localhost:5005', transport: 'socket'." and you can observe that test run is being started in the command line.

Now it is time to add some debug points and continue debugging.

Note: You can create a small shell script and add set the MAVEN_OPTS by running that script too.