diff --git a/bpel-rest-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/ode/bpel/extension/bpel4restlight/Bpel4RestLightUtil.java b/bpel-rest-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/ode/bpel/extension/bpel4restlight/Bpel4RestLightUtil.java
index c12fa93ab..4f46b0bcb 100644
--- a/bpel-rest-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/ode/bpel/extension/bpel4restlight/Bpel4RestLightUtil.java
+++ b/bpel-rest-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/ode/bpel/extension/bpel4restlight/Bpel4RestLightUtil.java
@@ -260,6 +260,7 @@ public static String getMethodAttributeValue(ExtensionContext context, Element e
     public static String resolveVariableValueReference(ExtensionContext context,
             String variableValueReference) throws FaultException {
         String variableValue = variableValueReference;
+        logger.debug("Resolving variable value reference for: {}", variableValueReference);
 
         // Check if a concrete variable name ("varName") or a reference to the value of
         // a variable is specified ("$bpelVar[varName]")
@@ -268,6 +269,7 @@ public static String resolveVariableValueReference(ExtensionContext context,
             int endIndexOfVarReference = variableValue.indexOf("]");
         	
             String variableName = variableValue.substring(startIndexOfVarReference + VARIABLE_VALUE_REFERENCE.length(), endIndexOfVarReference);
+            logger.debug("Found variable name to resolve: {}", variableName);
             
             String prefix = variableValue.startsWith(VARIABLE_VALUE_REFERENCE) ? "" : variableValue.substring(0, startIndexOfVarReference);
         	String suffix = variableValue.length() > endIndexOfVarReference + 1 ? variableValue.substring(endIndexOfVarReference + 1) : "";
@@ -277,10 +279,12 @@ public static String resolveVariableValueReference(ExtensionContext context,
             // We only support simple type variables, therefore the value of the variable is
             // directly provided within a <temporary-simple-type-wrapper/> element.
             if (variable != null && isSimpleType(variable.type)) {
+                logger.debug("Variable is of simple type and can be resolved!");
                 Node variableContent = context.readVariable(variableName);
 
                 if (variableContent.getTextContent() != null) {
-                	// Return the value of the variable plus the optionally specified prefix and suffix as result 
+                	// Return the value of the variable plus the optionally specified prefix and suffix as result
+                    logger.debug("Replacing variable with following value: {}", variableContent.getTextContent());
                     variableValue = prefix + variableContent.getTextContent() + suffix;
                 }
             } else {
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d26001f26..07f931084 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -256,17 +256,17 @@
         <repository>
             <id>1_wso2</id>
             <name>WSO2 Repository</name>
-            <url>http://dist.wso2.org/maven2/</url>
+            <url>https://dist.wso2.org/maven2/</url>
         </repository>
         <repository>
             <id>2_central</id>
             <name>Maven Central Repository</name>
-            <url>http://central.maven.org/maven2/</url>
+            <url>https://central.maven.org/maven2/</url>
         </repository>
         <repository>
             <id>3_vanto</id>
             <name>Vanto Maven Repository</name>
-            <url>http://people.apache.org/~vanto/m2/</url>
+            <url>https://people.apache.org/~vanto/m2/</url>
         </repository>
     </repositories>
 
diff --git a/repositories.rb b/repositories.rb
index e4c2af7ee..6452a4d29 100644
--- a/repositories.rb
+++ b/repositories.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 #    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 #    limitations under the License.
 
-repositories.remote << "http://repo1.maven.org/maven2"
-repositories.remote << "http://people.apache.org/~vanto/m2/"
+repositories.remote << "https://repo1.maven.org/maven2"
+repositories.remote << "https://people.apache.org/~vanto/m2/"