diff --git a/extensions/grpc/codegen/pom.xml b/extensions/grpc/codegen/pom.xml
index b59afcb8749af..6ab6e06af776c 100644
--- a/extensions/grpc/codegen/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions/grpc/codegen/pom.xml
@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-grpc-protoc-plugin</artifactId>
             <classifier>shaded</classifier>
+            <exclusions>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>*</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>*</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
+            </exclusions>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
diff --git a/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/LauncherUtil.java b/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/LauncherUtil.java
index fe3b846263cc6..b425ad8c60f77 100644
--- a/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/LauncherUtil.java
+++ b/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/LauncherUtil.java
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 
 public final class LauncherUtil {
 
+    public static final int LOG_CHECK_INTERVAL = 500;
+
     private LauncherUtil() {
     }
 
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ private static void destroyProcess(Process quarkusProcess) {
         int i = 0;
         while (i++ < 10) {
             try {
-                Thread.sleep(500);
+                Thread.sleep(LOG_CHECK_INTERVAL);
             } catch (InterruptedException ignored) {
 
             }
@@ -177,11 +179,13 @@ static IntegrationTestStartedNotifier.Result waitForStartedFunction(
      * process is listening
      */
     static void updateConfigForPort(Integer effectivePort) {
-        System.setProperty("quarkus.http.port", effectivePort.toString()); //set the port as a system property in order to have it applied to Config
-        System.setProperty("quarkus.http.test-port", effectivePort.toString()); // needed for RestAssuredManager
-        installAndGetSomeConfig(); // reinitialize the configuration to make sure the actual port is used
-        System.clearProperty("test.url"); // make sure the old value does not interfere with setting the new one
-        System.setProperty("test.url", TestHTTPResourceManager.getUri());
+        if (effectivePort != null) {
+            System.setProperty("quarkus.http.port", effectivePort.toString()); //set the port as a system property in order to have it applied to Config
+            System.setProperty("quarkus.http.test-port", effectivePort.toString()); // needed for RestAssuredManager
+            installAndGetSomeConfig(); // reinitialize the configuration to make sure the actual port is used
+            System.clearProperty("test.url"); // make sure the old value does not interfere with setting the new one
+            System.setProperty("test.url", TestHTTPResourceManager.getUri());
+        }
     }
 
     /**
@@ -195,6 +199,7 @@ private static class CaptureListeningDataReader implements Runnable {
         private final CountDownLatch signal;
         private final AtomicReference<ListeningAddress> resultReference;
         private final Pattern listeningRegex = Pattern.compile("Listening on:\\s+(https?)://\\S*:(\\d+)");
+        private final Pattern startedRegex = Pattern.compile(".*Quarkus .* started in \\d+.*s.*");
 
         public CaptureListeningDataReader(Path processOutput, Duration waitTime, CountDownLatch signal,
                 AtomicReference<ListeningAddress> resultReference) {
@@ -213,9 +218,19 @@ public void run() {
 
             long bailoutTime = System.currentTimeMillis() + waitTime.toMillis();
             try (BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(processOutput.toFile()))) {
+                long timeStarted = Long.MAX_VALUE;
+                boolean started = false;
+                // generally, we want to start as soon as info about Quarkus having started is printed
+                // but just in case the line with http host and port is printed later, let's wait a bit more
                 while (true) {
                     if (reader.ready()) { // avoid blocking as the input is a file which continually gets more data added
                         String line = reader.readLine();
+
+                        if (startedRegex.matcher(line).matches()) {
+                            timeStarted = System.currentTimeMillis();
+                            started = true;
+                        }
+
                         Matcher regexMatcher = listeningRegex.matcher(line);
                         if (regexMatcher.find()) {
                             dataDetermined(regexMatcher.group(1), Integer.valueOf(regexMatcher.group(2)));
@@ -228,17 +243,26 @@ public void run() {
                         }
                     } else {
                         //wait until there is more of the file for us to read
+
+                        long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
+                        // if we have seen info that the app is started in the log a while ago
+                        // or waiting the the next check interval will exceed the bailout time, it's time to finish waiting:
+                        if (now + LOG_CHECK_INTERVAL > bailoutTime || now - 2 * LOG_CHECK_INTERVAL > timeStarted) {
+                            if (started) {
+                                dataDetermined(null, null); // no http, all is null
+                            } else {
+                                unableToDetermineData("Waited " + waitTime.getSeconds() + " seconds for " + processOutput
+                                        + " to contain info about the listening port and protocol but no such info was found");
+                            }
+                            return;
+                        }
+
                         try {
-                            Thread.sleep(500);
+                            Thread.sleep(LOG_CHECK_INTERVAL);
                         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                             unableToDetermineData(
-                                    "Thread interrupted while waiting for more data to become available in proccess output file: "
-                                            + processOutput.toAbsolutePath().toString());
-                            return;
-                        }
-                        if (System.currentTimeMillis() > bailoutTime) {
-                            unableToDetermineData("Waited " + waitTime.getSeconds() + "seconds for " + processOutput
-                                    + " to contain info about the listening port and protocol but no such info was found");
+                                    "Thread interrupted while waiting for more data to become available in process output file: "
+                                            + processOutput.toAbsolutePath());
                             return;
                         }
                     }