Dave, are you still fighting? :) Sorry, I thought you working in local copy only. Unfortunately, intellij usually looks first for module dependency. If you try to remove xwork-core from module dependency you can't debug xwork-core. I find out a workaround, it allows to compile and debug without any side effects.
Create a new project library (file -> project structure -> libraries -> add new library) that point to your_repository_path/org/apache/struts/xwork/xwork-core/2.2.2-SNAPSHOT/xwork-core-2.2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar (this is the only place where idea can find out the shaded classes). Then add project library in every module that already contains xwork-core module dependency. If you try to compile now idea should be able to do. You'll also able to debug the xwork-core (except for common.lang part). I hope I have explained it well. Maurizio Cucchiara PS: when you edit xwork source, remember to launch mvn install in xwork dir to upgrade repository version.
