diff --git a/validate/Makefile.am b/validate/Makefile.am
index 48dc766106..b86d70a493 100644
--- a/validate/Makefile.am
+++ b/validate/Makefile.am
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ SUBDIRS = 	\
 	common 	\
 	data	\
 	gst 	\
+	launcher \
 	tools 	\
 	pkgconfig 	\
 	docs    \
diff --git a/validate/configure.ac b/validate/configure.ac
index 27263fd5ed..c02ce17ee9 100644
--- a/validate/configure.ac
+++ b/validate/configure.ac
@@ -286,9 +286,9 @@ pkgconfig/gst-validate-uninstalled.pc
 pkgconfig/gst-validate.pc
 po/Makefile.in
 tools/Makefile
-tools/launcher/Makefile
-tools/launcher/apps/Makefile
-tools/launcher/apps/validate/Makefile
+launcher/Makefile
+launcher/apps/Makefile
+launcher/apps/validate/Makefile
 docs/Makefile
 docs/version.entities
 docs/validate/Makefile
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/Makefile.am b/validate/launcher/Makefile.am
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/Makefile.am
rename to validate/launcher/Makefile.am
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/RangeHTTPServer.py b/validate/launcher/RangeHTTPServer.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/RangeHTTPServer.py
rename to validate/launcher/RangeHTTPServer.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/__init__.py b/validate/launcher/__init__.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/__init__.py
rename to validate/launcher/__init__.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/apps/Makefile.am b/validate/launcher/apps/Makefile.am
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/apps/Makefile.am
rename to validate/launcher/apps/Makefile.am
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/apps/geslaunch.py b/validate/launcher/apps/geslaunch.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/apps/geslaunch.py
rename to validate/launcher/apps/geslaunch.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/apps/gstvalidate.py b/validate/launcher/apps/gstvalidate.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/apps/gstvalidate.py
rename to validate/launcher/apps/gstvalidate.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/apps/validate/Makefile.am b/validate/launcher/apps/validate/Makefile.am
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/apps/validate/Makefile.am
rename to validate/launcher/apps/validate/Makefile.am
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/apps/validate/validate_testsuite.py b/validate/launcher/apps/validate/validate_testsuite.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/apps/validate/validate_testsuite.py
rename to validate/launcher/apps/validate/validate_testsuite.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/baseclasses.py b/validate/launcher/baseclasses.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/baseclasses.py
rename to validate/launcher/baseclasses.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/httpserver.py b/validate/launcher/httpserver.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/httpserver.py
rename to validate/launcher/httpserver.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/loggable.py b/validate/launcher/loggable.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/loggable.py
rename to validate/launcher/loggable.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/main.py b/validate/launcher/main.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/main.py
rename to validate/launcher/main.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/reporters.py b/validate/launcher/reporters.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/reporters.py
rename to validate/launcher/reporters.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/launcher/utils.py b/validate/launcher/utils.py
similarity index 100%
rename from validate/tools/launcher/utils.py
rename to validate/launcher/utils.py
diff --git a/validate/tools/Makefile.am b/validate/tools/Makefile.am
index 8aec9c3988..86b8eb6685 100644
--- a/validate/tools/Makefile.am
+++ b/validate/tools/Makefile.am
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-SUBDIRS = \
-	launcher
-
 bin_PROGRAMS = \
 	gst-validate-@GST_API_VERSION@ \
 	gst-validate-transcoding-@GST_API_VERSION@ \
diff --git a/validate/tools/gst-validate-launcher.in b/validate/tools/gst-validate-launcher.in
index 96b6ffce14..4e487cc688 100644
--- a/validate/tools/gst-validate-launcher.in
+++ b/validate/tools/gst-validate-launcher.in
@@ -32,10 +32,11 @@ def _in_devel():
 def _add_gst_launcher_path():
     if not _in_devel():
         root = os.path.join(LIBDIR, 'gst-validate-launcher', 'python')
-        sys.path.insert(0, root)
     else:
-        root = os.path.dirname(__file__)
+        dir_ = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+        root = os.path.split(dir_)[0]
 
+    sys.path.insert(0, root)
     return os.path.join(root, "launcher")