Instructions are really simple now:
svn co https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn//sakai/trunk/ sakai
cd sakai
svn co https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn//portlet/trunk/ portlet
maven bld dpl
Start tomcat. The portlets will simply show up as tools - you may want this in your sakai.properties:
webservices.allowlogin=true
webservice.portalsecret=plug-xyzzy
webservice.portalIP=127.0.0.1
webservice.IPCheck=true