diff --git a/src/bin/Makefile.am b/src/bin/Makefile.am
index 0eea572fd..d7e9d21d0 100644
--- a/src/bin/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/bin/Makefile.am
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ e_bindings.h \
 e_moveresize.h \
 e_actions.h \
 e_popup.h \
-e_ipc_codec.h
+e_ipc_codec.h \
+e_prefix.h
 
 enlightenment_SOURCES = \
 e_main.c \
@@ -98,6 +99,7 @@ e_moveresize.c \
 e_actions.c \
 e_popup.c \
 e_ipc_codec.c \
+e_prefix.c \
 $(ENLIGHTENMENTHEADERS)
 
 enlightenment_LDFLAGS = -export-dynamic @e_libs@ @dlopen_libs@
diff --git a/src/bin/e_includes.h b/src/bin/e_includes.h
index cacadff41..6fb1da01f 100644
--- a/src/bin/e_includes.h
+++ b/src/bin/e_includes.h
@@ -43,3 +43,4 @@
 #include "e_popup.h"
 #include "e_ipc_codec.h"
 #include "e_test.h"
+#include "e_prefix.h"
diff --git a/src/bin/e_intl.c b/src/bin/e_intl.c
index 06a31a4ef..74248384f 100644
--- a/src/bin/e_intl.c
+++ b/src/bin/e_intl.c
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ e_intl_init(void)
     *       vs. traditional chinese) we may refer to them as separate languages
     *       entirely.
     */
+   /* FIXME: remove this - hunt locale dirs (a user one in ~/.e/e/ too for
+    * user installed locale support
+    */
    ADD_LANG("");
    ADD_LANG("en_US.UTF-8");
    ADD_LANG("ja_JP.UTF-8");
@@ -71,6 +74,7 @@ e_intl_shutdown(void)
 void
 e_intl_language_set(const char *lang)
 {
+   /* FIXME: determine if in user or system locale dir */
    if (_e_intl_language) free(_e_intl_language);
    if (!lang) lang = getenv("LANG");
    if (lang)
@@ -104,132 +108,9 @@ e_intl_language_get(void)
    return _e_intl_language;
 }
 
-#define IFL(l) if (!strcmp(lang, l)) return
-const char *
-e_intl_language_name_get(const char *lang)
-{
-   if (!lang) return "None";
-   /* this is a list of DISTINCT languages. some languages have variants that
-    * are different enough to justify being listed separately as distinct
-    * languages here. this is intended for use in a gui that lets you select
-    * a language, with e being able to give a name for the given language
-    * encoding (once simplfied)
-    */
-   /* FIXME: add as many as we can to this */
-   IFL("") "None";
-   IFL("C") "None";
-   IFL("bg") "Bulgarian";
-   IFL("bs") "Bosnian";
-   IFL("ca") "Catalan";
-   IFL("cs") "Czech";
-   IFL("cy") "Welsh";
-   IFL("da") "Danish";
-   IFL("de") "German";
-   IFL("el") "Greek";
-   IFL("en") "English"; 
-   IFL("es") "Spanish"; 
-   IFL("eu") "Basque";
-   IFL("fa") "Persian";
-   IFL("fr") "French";
-   IFL("fi") "Finnish";
-   IFL("gl") "Galician";
-   IFL("hi") "Hindi";
-   IFL("hr") "Croatian";
-   IFL("hu") "Hungarian";
-   IFL("id") "Indonesian";
-   IFL("it") "Italian";
-   IFL("ja") "Japanese";
-   IFL("kr") "Korean";
-   IFL("lt") "Lithuanian";
-   IFL("lv") "Latvian";
-   IFL("nl") "Dutch";
-   IFL("no") "Norwegian";
-   IFL("nb") "Norwegian Bokmal";
-   IFL("nn") "Norwegian Nynorsk";
-   IFL("pl") "Polish";
-   IFL("pt") "Portuguese";
-   IFL("ro") "Romanian";
-   IFL("ru") "Russian";
-   IFL("sk") "Slovak";
-   IFL("sl") "Slovenian";
-   IFL("sq") "Albanian";
-   IFL("sr") "Serbian";
-   IFL("sv") "Swedish";
-   IFL("tr") "Tuirkish";
-   IFL("uk") "Ukrainian";
-   IFL("vi") "Vietnamese";
-   /* must keep both - politically sensitive */
-   IFL("zh_CN") "Chinese (Simplified)";
-   IFL("zh_TW") "Chinese (Traditional)";
-   return "Unknown";
-}
-
-#define ISL(l) (!strcasecmp(buf, l))
-const char *
-e_intl_language_simple_get(const char *lang)
-{
-   static char buf[128];
-   char *p;
-
-   if (!lang) return "C";
-   /* strip off the charset stuff after any "." eg: "en_US.UTF-8" -> "en_US" */
-   strncpy(buf, lang, sizeof(buf) - 1);
-   p = strchr(buf, '.');
-   if (p) *p = 0;
-   /* do we want to split this inot the different forms of english?
-    * ie american vs british? or australian? etc.
-    */
-   /* for known specific mappings - do them first here */
-   if (ISL("en") || ISL("en_US") || ISL("en_GB") || ISL("en_GB@euro") || 
-       ISL("en_CA") || ISL("en_AU") || ISL("en_NZ") || ISL("en_RN"))
-     return "en";
-   if (ISL("ja") || ISL("ja_JP") || ISL("JP"))
-     return "ja";
-   if (ISL("fr") || ISL("fr_FR") || ISL("FR") || ISL("fr_FR@euro"))
-     return "fr";
-   if (ISL("es") || ISL("es_ES") || ISL("ES") || ISL("es_ES@euro") ||
-       ISL("es_AR") || ISL("AR"))
-     return "es";
-   if (ISL("pt") || ISL("pt_PT") || ISL("PT") || ISL("pt_PT@euro") ||
-       ISL("pt_BR") || ISL("BR"))
-     return "pt";
-   if (ISL("fi") || ISL("fi_FI") || ISL("FI") || ISL("fi_FI@euro"))
-     return "fi";
-   if (ISL("ru") || ISL("ru_RU") || ISL("RU"))
-     return "ru";
-   if (ISL("bg") || ISL("bg_BG") || ISL("BG"))
-     return "bg";
-   if (ISL("de") || ISL("de_DE") || ISL("DE") || ISL("de_DE@euro") ||
-       ISL("de_AT") || ISL("AT") || ISL("de_AT@euro"))
-     return "de";
-   if (ISL("pl") || ISL("pl_PL") || ISL("PL") || ISL("pl_PL@euro"))
-     return "pl";
-   if (ISL("zh") || ISL("zh_CN") || ISL("CN"))
-     return "zh_CN";
-   if (ISL("zh") || ISL("zh_TW") || ISL("TW"))
-     return "zh_TW";
-   if (ISL("hu") || ISL("hu_HU") || ISL("HU"))
-     return "hu";
-   if (ISL("sl") || ISL("sl_SI") || ISL("SI"))
-     return "sl";
-   if (ISL("it") || ISL("it_IT") || ISL("IT"))
-     return "it";
-   /* this is the default fallback - we have no special cases for this lang
-    * so just strip off anything after and including the _ for country region
-    * and just return the language encoding
-    */
-   /* strip off anything after a "_" eg: "en_US" -> "en" */
-   p = strchr(buf, '_');
-   if (p) *p = 0;
-   /* we can safely retunr buf because its a static - BUT its contents will
-    * change if we call e_intl_language_simple_get() again - so its only
-    * intended for immediate use and de-reference, not for storage
-    */
-   return buf;
-}
-
 const Evas_List *
 e_intl_language_list(void)
 {
+   /* FIXME: hunt dirs for locales */
    return _e_intl_languages;
 }
diff --git a/src/bin/e_intl.h b/src/bin/e_intl.h
index bd7b7346c..e5d24a8d2 100644
--- a/src/bin/e_intl.h
+++ b/src/bin/e_intl.h
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ EAPI int e_intl_init(void);
 EAPI int e_intl_shutdown(void);
 EAPI void e_intl_language_set(const char *lang);
 EAPI const char *e_intl_language_get(void);
-EAPI const char *e_intl_language_name_get(const char *lang);
-EAPI const char *e_intl_language_simple_get(const char *lang);
 EAPI const Evas_List *e_intl_language_list(void);
     
 #endif
diff --git a/src/bin/e_main.c b/src/bin/e_main.c
index 50d4cdac4..683ee5ec2 100644
--- a/src/bin/e_main.c
+++ b/src/bin/e_main.c
@@ -69,6 +69,21 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
    sigaction(SIGSEGV, &sigsegv_action, NULL);
 #endif
 
+   /* FIXME: this is the init code for letting e be relocatable. right now
+    * its not used - so i want to see if it can reliably determine its exe
+    * prefix
+    */
+   if (!e_prefix_determine(argv[0]))
+     {
+	fprintf(stderr,
+		"ERROR: Enlightenment cannot determine its installed\n"
+		"       prefix from the system or argv[0].\n"
+		"       This is because it is not on Linux AND has been\n"
+		"       Executed strangely. This is unusal.\n"
+		);
+	exit(-1);
+     }
+   
    /* for debugging by redirecting stdout of e to a log file to tail */
    setvbuf(stdout, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
       
diff --git a/src/bin/e_prefix.c b/src/bin/e_prefix.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d4f21680
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/e_prefix.c
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+/*
+ * vim:ts=8:sw=3:sts=8:noexpandtab:cino=>5n-3f0^-2{2
+ */
+#include "e.h"
+
+/* local subsystem functions */
+static int _e_prefix_try_proc(void);
+static int _e_prefix_try_argv(char *argv0);
+
+/* local subsystem globals */
+static char *_exe_path = NULL;
+static char *_prefix_path = NULL;
+
+int
+e_prefix_determine(char *argv0)
+{
+   char *p;
+   
+   if (_exe_path) free(_exe_path);
+   _exe_path = NULL;
+   if (_prefix_path) free(_prefix_path);
+   _prefix_path = NULL;
+   
+   if (!_e_prefix_try_proc())
+     {
+	if (!_e_prefix_try_argv(argv0))
+	  return 0;
+     }
+   /* _exe_path is now a full absolute path TO this exe - figure out rest */
+   /*   if
+    * exe        = /blah/whatever/bin/exe
+    *   then
+    * prefix     = /blah/whatever
+    * bin_dir    = /blah/whatever/bin
+    * data_dir   = /blah/whatever/share/enlightenment
+    * locale_dir = /blah/whatever/share/locale
+    * lib_dir    = /blah/whatever/lib
+    */
+   p = strrchr(_exe_path, '/');
+   if (p)
+     {
+	p--;
+	while (p >= _exe_path)
+	  {
+	     if (*p == '/')
+	       {
+		  _prefix_path = malloc(p - _exe_path + 1);
+		  if (_prefix_path)
+		    {
+		       strncpy(_prefix_path, _exe_path, p - _exe_path);
+		       _prefix_path[p - _exe_path] = 0;
+		       printf("DYNAMIC DETERMINED PREFIX: %s\n", _prefix_path);
+		       return 1;
+		    }
+		  else
+		    {
+		       free(_exe_path);
+		       _exe_path = NULL;
+		       return 0;
+		    }
+	       }
+	     p--;
+	  }
+     }
+   free(_exe_path);
+   _exe_path = NULL;
+   return 0;
+}
+
+const char *
+e_prefix_get(void)
+{
+   return _prefix_path;
+}
+
+/* local subsystem functions */
+static int
+_e_prefix_try_proc(void)
+{
+   FILE *f;
+   char buf[4096];
+   void *func = NULL;
+
+   func = (void *)_e_prefix_try_proc;
+   f = fopen("/proc/self/maps", "r");
+   if (!f) return 0;
+   while (fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), f))
+     {
+	int len;
+	char *p, mode[5] = "";
+	unsigned long ptr1 = 0, ptr2 = 0;
+	
+	len = strlen(buf);
+	if (buf[len - 1] == '\n')
+	  {
+	     buf[len - 1] = 0;
+	     len--;
+	  }
+	if (sscanf(buf, "%lx-%lx %4s", &ptr1, &ptr2, mode) == 3)
+	  {
+	     if (!strcmp(mode, "r-xp"))
+	       {
+		  if (((void *)ptr1 <= func) && (func < (void *)ptr2))
+		    {
+		       p = strchr(buf, '/');
+		       if (p)
+			 {
+			    if (len > 10)
+			      {
+				 if (!strcmp(buf + len - 10, " (deleted)"))
+				   buf[len - 10] = 0;
+			      }
+			    _exe_path = strdup(p);
+			    fclose(f);
+			    return 1;
+			 }
+		       else
+			 break;
+		    }
+	       }
+	  }
+     }
+   fclose(f);
+   return 0;
+}
+
+static int
+_e_prefix_try_argv(char *argv0)
+{
+   char *path, *p, *cp, *s;
+   int len, lenexe;
+#ifdef PATH_MAX
+   char buf[PATH_MAX], buf2[PATH_MAX], buf3[PATH_MAX];
+#else
+   char buf[4096], buf2[4096], buf3[4096];
+#endif	
+   
+   /* 1. is argv0 abs path? */
+   if (argv0[0] == '/')
+     {
+	_exe_path = strdup(argv0);
+	if (access(_exe_path, X_OK) == 0) return 1;
+	free(_exe_path);
+	_exe_path = NULL;
+	return 0;
+     }
+   /* 2. relative path */
+   if (strchr(argv0, '/'))
+     {
+	if (getcwd(buf3, sizeof(buf3)))
+	  {
+	     snprintf(buf2, sizeof(buf2), "%s/%s", buf3, argv0);
+	     if (realpath(buf2, buf))
+	       {
+		  _exe_path = strdup(buf);
+		  if (access(_exe_path, X_OK) == 0) return 1;
+		  free(_exe_path);
+		  _exe_path = NULL;
+	       }
+	  }
+     }
+   /* 3. argv0 no path - look in PATH */
+   path = getenv("PATH");
+   if (!path) return 0;
+   p = path;
+   cp = p;
+   lenexe = strlen(argv0);
+   while (p = strchr(cp, ':'))
+     {
+	len = p - cp;
+	s = malloc(len + 1 + lenexe + 1);
+	if (s)
+	  {
+	     strncpy(s, cp, len);
+	     s[len] = '/';
+	     strcpy(s + len + 1, argv0);
+	     if (realpath(s, buf))
+	       {
+		  if (access(buf, X_OK) == 0)
+		    {
+		       _exe_path = strdup(buf);
+		       free(s);
+		       return 1;
+		    }
+	       }
+	     free(s);
+	  }
+        cp = p + 1;
+     }
+   len = strlen(cp);
+   s = malloc(len + 1 + lenexe + 1);
+   if (s)
+     {
+	strncpy(s, cp, len);
+	s[len] = '/';
+	strcpy(s + len + 1, argv0);
+	if (realpath(s, buf))
+	  {
+	     if (access(buf, X_OK) == 0)
+	       {
+		  _exe_path = strdup(buf);
+		  free(s);
+		  return 1;
+	       }
+	  }
+	free(s);
+     }
+   /* 4. big problems. arg[0] != executable - weird execution */
+   return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/bin/e_prefix.h b/src/bin/e_prefix.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..186e2d8d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/e_prefix.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+ * vim:ts=8:sw=3:sts=8:noexpandtab:cino=>5n-3f0^-2{2
+ */
+#ifdef E_TYPEDEFS
+
+#else
+#ifndef E_PREFIX_H
+#define E_PREFIX_H
+
+EAPI int         e_prefix_determine(char *argv0);
+EAPI const char *e_prefix_get(void);
+    
+#endif
+#endif