diff --git a/src/launcher/kiwix-launcher.c b/src/launcher/kiwix-launcher.c
deleted file mode 100644
index c737dcc..0000000
--- a/src/launcher/kiwix-launcher.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,56 +0,0 @@
-
-#include <unistd.h>
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <errno.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
-#include <string.h>
-#include <sys/stat.h>
-
-#ifdef _WIN32
-const char * sep = "\\";
-#else
-const char * sep = "/";
-#endif
-
-int main() {
-
-	char cwd[1024]; 
-
-    char * previous_env = getenv("LD_LIBRARY_PATH");
-	if (getcwd(cwd, sizeof(cwd)) != NULL) {
-        char env[1024] = "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=";
-        strcat(env, cwd);
-        strcat(env, ":");
-        strcat(env, previous_env);
-        putenv(env);
-        // fprintf(stdout, "LD_LIBRARY_PATH: %s\n", env);
-        // fprintf(stdout, "Current working dir: %s\n", cwd);
-    } else
-		perror("Unable to find current directory");
-
-    char *path = (char *)malloc(2048);
-    strcpy(path, cwd);
-    strcat(path, sep);
-    strcat(path, "xulrunner");
-    strcat(path, sep);
-    strcat(path, "xulrunner");
-    // fprintf(stdout, "path: %s\n", path);
-
-    char *inifile = (char *)malloc(2048);
-    strcpy(inifile, cwd);
-    strcat(inifile, sep);
-    strcat(inifile, "application.ini");
-    // fprintf(stdout, "ini: %s\n", inifile);
-
-    
-    if (file_exist(path) == 0) {
-        perror("Unable to find xulrunner binary");
-    }
-
-    return execl(path, "xulrunner", inifile, NULL);
-}
-
-int file_exist (char *filename) {
-    struct stat   buffer;   
-    return (stat (filename, &buffer) == 0);
-}
diff --git a/src/launcher/kiwix-launcher.cpp b/src/launcher/kiwix-launcher.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f754e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/launcher/kiwix-launcher.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+
+#include <iostream>
+#include "pathTools.h"
+
+using namespace std;
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+    
+    // find current binary path
+    string progpath = getExecutablePath();
+    string cwd = removeLastPathElement(progpath);
+    string ld_path = computeAbsolutePath(cwd, "xulrunner");
+    
+    // retrieve existing env if exist.
+    string previous_env;
+    char *previous_env_buf = getenv("LD_LIBRARY_PATH");
+    if (previous_env_buf == NULL)
+        previous_env = "";
+    else
+        previous_env = string(previous_env_buf);
+
+    // generate putenv string
+    string env_str = "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=" + ld_path + ":" + previous_env;
+    putenv((char *)env_str.c_str());
+
+    string xulrunner_path = computeAbsolutePath(cwd, "xulrunner/xulrunner");
+    string application_ini = computeAbsolutePath(cwd, "application.ini");
+
+    // debug prints
+    // cout  << "CurProg: " << progpath << endl;
+    // cout  << "cwd: " << cwd << endl;
+    // cout  << "LD path: " << ld_path << endl;
+    // cout  << "xulrunner_path: " << xulrunner_path << endl;
+    // cout  << "application_ini: " << application_ini << endl;
+
+    // exist if xulrunner can't be found
+    if (!fileExists(xulrunner_path)) {
+        perror("Unable to find xulrunner binary");
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    // execute xulrunner
+    return execl(xulrunner_path.c_str(), "xulrunner", application_ini.c_str(), "-jsconsole", NULL);
+}
\ No newline at end of file