diff --git a/pmd-dist/pom.xml b/pmd-dist/pom.xml
index 1681c20758..64c71eff1e 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd-dist/pom.xml
@@ -163,6 +163,12 @@
             <version>4.11</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
+            <artifactId>commons-compress</artifactId>
+            <version>1.13</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
     <profiles>
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistTest.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistTest.java
index 26578c88ec..dab1a5b441 100644
--- a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistTest.java
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/BinaryDistTest.java
@@ -8,12 +8,15 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD;
@@ -24,10 +27,14 @@ public class BinaryDistTest {
         return new File(".", "target/pmd-bin-" + PMD.VERSION + ".zip");
     }
 
+    private File getSourceDistribution() {
+        return new File(".", "target/pmd-src-" + PMD.VERSION + ".zip");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testFileExistence() {
-        File file = getBinaryDistribution();
-        assertTrue(file.exists());
+        assertTrue(getBinaryDistribution().exists());
+        assertTrue(getSourceDistribution().exists());
     }
 
     private Set<String> getExpectedFileNames() {
@@ -58,4 +65,22 @@ public class BinaryDistTest {
 
         assertTrue(expectedFileNames.isEmpty());
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void runPMD() throws Exception {
+        Path tempDir = Files.createTempDirectory("pmd-it-test-");
+        String srcDir = new File(".", "src/test/resources/sample-source/").getAbsolutePath();
+
+        try {
+            ZipFileExtractor.extractZipFile(getBinaryDistribution().toPath(), tempDir);
+
+            PMDExecutionResult result = PMDExecutor.runPMD(tempDir, srcDir, "java-basic");
+            result.assertPMDExecutionResult(4, "JumbledIncrementer.java:8:");
+
+            result = PMDExecutor.runPMD(tempDir, srcDir, "java-design");
+            result.assertPMDExecutionResult(0, "");
+        } finally {
+            FileUtils.forceDelete(tempDir.toFile());
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/PMDExecutionResult.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/PMDExecutionResult.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a22e66552
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/PMDExecutionResult.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/**
+ * BSD-style license; for more info see http://pmd.sourceforge.net/license.html
+ */
+
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.it;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+/**
+ * Collects the result of a PMD execution in order to verify it.
+ *
+ * @author Andreas Dangel
+ */
+public class PMDExecutionResult {
+    private final int exitCode;
+    private final String output;
+
+    PMDExecutionResult(int theExitCode, String theOutput) {
+        this.exitCode = theExitCode;
+        this.output = theOutput;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Asserts that PMD exited with the expected exit code and that the given expected
+     * output is contained in the actual PMD output.
+     *
+     * @param expectedExitCode the exit code, e.g. 0 if no rule violations are expected, or 4 if violations are found
+     * @param expectedOutput the output to search for
+     */
+    public void assertPMDExecutionResult(int expectedExitCode, String expectedOutput) {
+        assertEquals("PMD exited with wrong code", expectedExitCode, exitCode);
+        assertNotNull("No output found", output);
+        if (!output.contains(expectedOutput)) {
+            fail("Expected output '" + expectedOutput + "' not present.\nComplete output:\n\n" + output);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/PMDExecutor.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/PMDExecutor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..43d16e0643
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/PMDExecutor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/**
+ * BSD-style license; for more info see http://pmd.sourceforge.net/license.html
+ */
+
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.it;
+
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.SystemUtils;
+
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD;
+
+/**
+ * Executes PMD from command line. Deals with the differences, when PMD is run on Windows or on Linux.
+ *
+ * @author Andreas Dangel
+ */
+public class PMDExecutor {
+    private static final String PMD_BIN_PREFIX = "pmd-bin-";
+    private static final String SOURCE_DIRECTORY_FLAG = "-d";
+    private static final String RULESET_FLAG = "-R";
+    private static final String FORMAT_FLAG = "-f";
+    private static final String FORMATTER = "text";
+
+    private PMDExecutor() {
+        // this is a helper class only
+    }
+
+    private static PMDExecutionResult runPMDUnix(Path tempDir, String sourceDirectory, String ruleset) throws Exception {
+        String cmd = tempDir.resolve(PMD_BIN_PREFIX + PMD.VERSION + "/bin/run.sh").toAbsolutePath().toString();
+        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(cmd, "pmd", SOURCE_DIRECTORY_FLAG, sourceDirectory, RULESET_FLAG, ruleset, FORMAT_FLAG, FORMATTER);
+        pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
+        Process process = pb.start();
+        String output = IOUtils.toString(process.getInputStream());
+
+        int result = process.waitFor();
+        return new PMDExecutionResult(result, output);
+    }
+
+    private static PMDExecutionResult runPMDWindows(Path tempDir, String sourceDirectory, String ruleset) throws Exception {
+        String cmd = tempDir.resolve(PMD_BIN_PREFIX + PMD.VERSION + "/bin/pmd.bat").toAbsolutePath().toString();
+        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(cmd, SOURCE_DIRECTORY_FLAG, sourceDirectory, RULESET_FLAG, ruleset, FORMAT_FLAG, FORMATTER);
+        pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
+        Process process = pb.start();
+        String output = IOUtils.toString(process.getInputStream());
+
+        int result = process.waitFor();
+        return new PMDExecutionResult(result, output);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Executes the PMD found in tempDir against the given sourceDirectory path with the given ruleset.
+     *
+     * @param tempDir the directory, to which the binary distribution has been extracted
+     * @param sourceDirectory the source directory, that PMD should analyze
+     * @param ruleset the ruleset, that PMD should execute
+     * @return collected result of the execution
+     * @throws Exception if the execution fails for any reason (executable not found, ...)
+     */
+    public static PMDExecutionResult runPMD(Path tempDir, String sourceDirectory, String ruleset) throws Exception {
+        if (SystemUtils.IS_OS_WINDOWS) {
+            return runPMDWindows(tempDir, sourceDirectory, ruleset);
+        } else {
+            return runPMDUnix(tempDir, sourceDirectory, ruleset);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e024dda14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/it/ZipFileExtractor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/**
+ * BSD-style license; for more info see http://pmd.sourceforge.net/license.html
+ */
+
+package net.sourceforge.pmd.it;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.Enumeration;
+
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.zip.ZipArchiveEntry;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.zip.ZipFile;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+
+/**
+ * Extracts a zip file with preserving the unix file permissions.
+ *
+ * @author Andreas Dangel
+ */
+public class ZipFileExtractor {
+    // unix file permission for executable flag by owner
+    private static final int OWNER_EXECUTABLE = 0x40;
+
+    private ZipFileExtractor() {
+        // Helper class
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Extracts the given zip file into the tempDir.
+     * @param zipPath the zip file to extract
+     * @param tempDir the target directory
+     * @throws Exception if any error happens during extraction
+     */
+    public static void extractZipFile(Path zipPath, Path tempDir) throws Exception {
+        ZipFile zip = new ZipFile(zipPath.toFile());
+        try {
+            Enumeration<ZipArchiveEntry> entries = zip.getEntries();
+            while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
+                ZipArchiveEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
+                File file = tempDir.resolve(entry.getName()).toFile();
+                if (entry.isDirectory()) {
+                    assertTrue(file.mkdirs());
+                } else {
+                    try (InputStream data = zip.getInputStream(entry);
+                         OutputStream fileOut = new FileOutputStream(file);) {
+                        IOUtils.copy(data, fileOut);
+                    }
+                    if ((entry.getUnixMode() & OWNER_EXECUTABLE) == OWNER_EXECUTABLE) {
+                        file.setExecutable(true);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } finally {
+            zip.close();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pmd-dist/src/test/resources/sample-source/JumbledIncrementer.java b/pmd-dist/src/test/resources/sample-source/JumbledIncrementer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..39cbd303af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pmd-dist/src/test/resources/sample-source/JumbledIncrementer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+/**
+ * Sample file which triggers the JumbledIncrementerRule on line 8.
+ * Used in the integration tests.
+ */
+public class JumbledIncrementer {
+    public void foo() {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {          // only references 'i'
+            for (int k = 0; k < 20; i++) {      // references both 'i' and 'k'
+                System.out.println("Hello");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}