diff --git a/src/main-executable/main.c b/src/main-executable/main.c
index 5b5a7dfd..297759ed 100644
--- a/src/main-executable/main.c
+++ b/src/main-executable/main.c
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 // generated by meson
 #include "config.h"
 
+// TODO: arguably we shouldn't rely on our install prefix being the same as art's install prefix
+// maybe we can have art export a function returning it's install prefix for us
+#define INSTALL_DEXDIR INSTALL_LIBDIR "/java/dex/"
+
 GtkWidget *window;
 
 // standard Gtk Application stuff, more or less
@@ -49,14 +53,21 @@ char *construct_classpath(char *prefix, char *path_to_prepend, char **cp_array,
 
 char *construct_boot_classpath(char *prefix, char **cp_array, size_t len)
 {
-	char *android_root_path = getenv("ANDROID_ROOT");
-	char *framework_dir = "/framework/";
-	char *framework_dir_path = malloc(strlen(android_root_path) + strlen(framework_dir) + 1);
-	strcpy(framework_dir_path, android_root_path);
-	strcat(framework_dir_path, framework_dir);
+	char *framework_dir_path;
+	const char *android_root_path = getenv("ANDROID_ROOT");
+	if(!android_root_path) { // look in PREFIX by default
+		framework_dir_path = INSTALL_DEXDIR "/art/";
+	}
+	else { // if ANDROID_ROOT is set, look there
+		const char *framework_dir = "/framework/";
+		framework_dir_path = malloc(strlen(android_root_path) + strlen(framework_dir) + 1);
+		strcpy(framework_dir_path, android_root_path);
+		strcat(framework_dir_path, framework_dir);
+	}
 
 	char *result = construct_classpath(prefix, framework_dir_path, cp_array, len);
-	free(framework_dir_path);
+	if(android_root_path) // otherwise it's not allocated dynamically
+		free(framework_dir_path);
 
 	return result;
 }
@@ -74,10 +85,7 @@ JNIEnv* create_vm(char *api_impl_jar, char *apk_classpath, char *microg_apk) {
 		"apache-xml-hostdex.jar",
 		"core-junit-hostdex.jar",
 		"core-libart-hostdex.jar",
-		"dex-host.jar",
-		"dx.jar",
 		"hamcrest-hostdex.jar",
-		"jarjar.jar",
 	};
 	options[0].optionString = construct_boot_classpath("-Xbootclasspath:", boot_cp_arr, ARRAY_SIZE(boot_cp_arr));
 
@@ -107,10 +115,10 @@ JNIEnv* create_vm(char *api_impl_jar, char *apk_classpath, char *microg_apk) {
 // which we use to inject our JNI library into the correct classloader without having to load it from java code
 bool HAXX__JavaVMExt__LoadNativeLibrary(JNIEnv* env, char *path, jobject class_loader, char** error_msg);
 
-#define API_IMPL_JAR_PATH_LIBDIR INSTALL_LIBDIR "/java/dex/api-impl.jar"
+#define API_IMPL_JAR_PATH_LIBDIR INSTALL_DEXDIR "/translation-layer/api-impl.jar"
 #define API_IMPL_JAR_PATH_LOCAL "./api-impl.jar"
 
-#define MICROG_APK_PATH_LIBDIR INSTALL_LIBDIR "/java/dex/com.google.android.gms.apk"
+#define MICROG_APK_PATH_LIBDIR INSTALL_DEXDIR "/microg/com.google.android.gms.apk"
 #define MICROG_APK_PATH_LOCAL "./com.google.android.gms.apk"
 
 struct jni_callback_data { char *apk_main_activity_class; uint32_t window_width; uint32_t window_height;};
@@ -137,6 +145,7 @@ static void open(GtkApplication *app, GFile** files, gint nfiles, const gchar* h
 	}
 
 	struct stat dont_care;
+	// check for api-impl.jar and com.google.android.gms.apk in './' first (for running from builddir), and in system install path second
 	ret = stat(API_IMPL_JAR_PATH_LOCAL, &dont_care);
 	errno_localdir = errno;
 	if(!ret) {