diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ba9c727d6..3b9739d04 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 current-*.tar.gz
 *.pyc
 *.py.bak
+*.swp
 *.tiny.css
 data/*.log
 data/cherrypy_sessions
@@ -28,4 +29,4 @@ data/plinth.sqlite3
 predepend
 build/
 *.pid
-.emacs.desktop*
\ No newline at end of file
+.emacs.desktop*
diff --git a/plinth.py b/plinth.py
index 674835196..b689f0e3b 100755
--- a/plinth.py
+++ b/plinth.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ def setup_server():
         '/': {'tools.staticdir.root': '%s/static' % cfg.file_root,
               'tools.staticdir.on': True,
               'tools.staticdir.dir': '.'}}
-    cherrypy.tree.mount(None, cfg.server_dir + '/static', config)
+    cherrypy.tree.mount(None, django.conf.settings.STATIC_URL, config)
 
     if not cfg.no_daemon:
         Daemonizer(cherrypy.engine).subscribe()
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ def configure_django():
         ROOT_URLCONF='urls',
         SESSION_ENGINE='django.contrib.sessions.backends.file',
         SESSION_FILE_PATH=sessions_directory,
-        STATIC_URL=cfg.server_dir + '/static/',
+        STATIC_URL=os.path.join(cfg.server_dir, 'static/'),
         TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS=context_processors,
         TEMPLATE_DIRS=template_directories)
 
diff --git a/util.py b/util.py
index f922fa51f..2bc550ca1 100644
--- a/util.py
+++ b/util.py
@@ -1,24 +1,48 @@
 import os
+from django.http.response import HttpResponseRedirect
+import cfg
+
+
+class PlinthRedirect(HttpResponseRedirect):
+    """
+    We do not fully use django and thus cannot use its named URLs to construct
+    links/redirects, so we have to take care of cfg.server_dir manually.
+    This temporary helper class makes sure that plinth-internal redirects
+    have the correct server_dir prefix.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, redirect_to, *args, **kwargs):
+        if not redirect_to.startswith(cfg.server_dir):
+            redirect_to = urljoin([cfg.server_dir, redirect_to])
+        return super(PlinthRedirect, self).__init__(redirect_to,
+                                                    *args, **kwargs)
+
+
+def urljoin(parts):
+    """
+    urllibs' urljoin joins ("foo", "/bar") to "/bar".
+    Instead, just concatenate the parts with "/" to i.e. /foo/bar
+    """
+    return '/' + '/'.join(s.strip('/') for s in parts)
 
 
 def mkdir(newdir):
-   """works the way a good mkdir should :)
+    """works the way a good mkdir should :)
         - already exists, silently complete
         - regular file in the way, raise an exception
         - parent directory(ies) does not exist, make them as well
-   """
-   if os.path.isdir(newdir):
-      pass
-   elif os.path.isfile(newdir):
-      raise OSError("a file with the same name as the desired " \
+    """
+    if os.path.isdir(newdir):
+        pass
+    elif os.path.isfile(newdir):
+        raise OSError("a file with the same name as the desired " \
                       "dir, '%s', already exists." % newdir)
-   else:
-      head, tail = os.path.split(newdir)
-      if head and not os.path.isdir(head):
-         mkdir(head)
-      #print "mkdir %s" % repr(newdir)
-      if tail:
-         os.mkdir(newdir)
+    else:
+        head, tail = os.path.split(newdir)
+        if head and not os.path.isdir(head):
+            mkdir(head)
+        #print "mkdir %s" % repr(newdir)
+        if tail:
+            os.mkdir(newdir)
 
 
 def slurp(filespec):
diff --git a/views.py b/views.py
index 9bcad38d9..0c4cef271 100644
--- a/views.py
+++ b/views.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 Main Plinth views
 """
 
-from django.http.response import HttpResponseRedirect
+from util import PlinthRedirect
 import logging
 
 import cfg
@@ -37,14 +37,13 @@ def index(request):
             # Permanent redirect causes the browser to cache the redirect,
             # preventing the user from navigating to /plinth until the
             # browser is restarted.
-            return HttpResponseRedirect(cfg.server_dir + '/firstboot')
+            return PlinthRedirect('/firstboot')
 
         if database['state'] < 5:
             LOGGER.info('First boot state - %d', database['state'])
-            return HttpResponseRedirect(
-                cfg.server_dir + '/firstboot/state%d' % database['state'])
+            return PlinthRedirect('/firstboot/state%d' % database['state'])
 
     if request.user.is_authenticated():
-        return HttpResponseRedirect(cfg.server_dir + '/apps')
+        return PlinthRedirect('/apps')
 
-    return HttpResponseRedirect(cfg.server_dir + '/help/about')
+    return PlinthRedirect('/help/about')