diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index a7951ea1..d66fa422 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-if [[ $1 == -portable ]]; then
-  cflags="-DLITE_XL_DATA_USE_EXEDIR"
-fi
-
 cflags+="-Wall -O3 -g -std=gnu11 -fno-strict-aliasing -Isrc -Ilib/font_renderer"
 cflags+=" $(pkg-config --cflags lua5.2) $(sdl2-config --cflags)"
 lflags="-static-libgcc -static-libstdc++"
diff --git a/data/core/config.lua b/data/core/config.lua
index fcb2499b..7e1ab277 100644
--- a/data/core/config.lua
+++ b/data/core/config.lua
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-global {VERSION = "1.16.0"}
-
 local config = {}
 
 config.project_scan_rate = 5
diff --git a/data/core/start.lua b/data/core/start.lua
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2d86cdc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/core/start.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+-- this file is used by lite-xl to setup the Lua environment
+-- when starting
+VERSION = "1.16.0"
+
+SCALE = tonumber(os.getenv("LITE_SCALE")) or SCALE
+PATHSEP = package.config:sub(1, 1)
+EXEDIR = EXEFILE:match("^(.+)[/\\][^/\\]+$")
+
+local prefix = EXEDIR:match("^(.+)[/\\]bin$")
+DATADIR = prefix and (prefix .. '/share/lite-xl') or (EXEDIR .. '/data')
+USERDIR = HOME and (HOME .. '/.config/lite-xl') or (EXEDIR .. '/user')
+
+package.path = package.path .. ';' .. USERDIR .. '/?.lua'
+package.path = package.path .. ';' .. USERDIR .. '/?/init.lua'
+package.path = DATADIR .. '/?.lua;' .. package.path
+package.path = DATADIR .. '/?/init.lua;' .. package.path
+
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 48cf4399..4e2a2c2c 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-project('lite', 'c', 'cpp', version: '1.0', default_options : ['c_std=gnu11', 'cpp_std=c++03'])
+project('lite', 'c', 'cpp', default_options : ['c_std=gnu11', 'cpp_std=c++03'])
 
 cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
 libm = cc.find_library('m', required : false)
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ sdl_dep = dependency('sdl2', method: 'config-tool')
 
 lite_cargs = []
 if get_option('portable')
-    lite_cargs += ['-DLITE_XL_DATA_USE_EXEDIR']
     lite_datadir = 'data'
 else
     lite_datadir = 'share/lite-xl'
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index ed375890..e8fec755 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -114,31 +114,16 @@ init_lua:
   lua_pushstring(L, exename);
   lua_setglobal(L, "EXEFILE");
 
-
   const char *init_lite_code = \
     "local core\n"
     "xpcall(function()\n"
-    "  SCALE = tonumber(os.getenv(\"LITE_SCALE\")) or SCALE\n"
-    "  PATHSEP = package.config:sub(1, 1)\n"
-    "  EXEDIR = EXEFILE:match(\"^(.+)[/\\\\].*$\")\n"
-#ifdef LITE_XL_DATA_USE_EXEDIR
-    "  DATADIR = EXEDIR .. '/data'\n"
-#else
-    "  do\n"
-    "    local prefix = EXEDIR:match(\"^(.+)[/\\\\]bin$\")\n"
-    "    DATADIR = prefix and (prefix .. '/share/lite-xl') or (EXEDIR .. '/data')\n"
-    "  end\n"
-#endif
 #ifdef _WIN32
-    " HOME = os.getenv('USERPROFILE')"
+    "  HOME = os.getenv('USERPROFILE')\n"
 #else
-    " HOME = os.getenv('HOME')"
+    "  HOME = os.getenv('HOME')\n"
 #endif
-    "  USERDIR = HOME and (HOME .. '/.config/lite-xl') or (EXEDIR .. '/user')\n"
-    "  package.path = package.path .. ';' .. USERDIR .. '/?.lua'\n"
-    "  package.path = package.path .. ';' .. USERDIR .. '/?/init.lua'\n"
-    "  package.path = DATADIR .. '/?.lua;' .. package.path\n"
-    "  package.path = DATADIR .. '/?/init.lua;' .. package.path\n"
+    "  local prefix = EXEFILE:match(\"^(.+)[/\\\\]bin[/\\\\][^/\\\\]+$\")\n"
+    "  dofile((prefix and prefix .. '/share/lite-xl' or 'data') .. '/core/start.lua')\n"
     "  core = require('core')\n"
     "  core.init()\n"
     "  core.run()\n"