diff --git a/src/SemanticScuttle/Environment.php b/src/SemanticScuttle/Environment.php
index 7ccb466..df5a81c 100644
--- a/src/SemanticScuttle/Environment.php
+++ b/src/SemanticScuttle/Environment.php
@@ -44,5 +44,41 @@ class SemanticScuttle_Environment
         //fallback when no special path after the php file is given
         return '';
     }
+
+
+    /**
+     * Determines the root directory from the server environment.
+     * The root directory is the path that needs to be prepended
+     * to relative links.
+     *
+     * Returns $GLOBALS['root'] if set.
+     *
+     * @return string Base URL with trailing slash
+     */
+    public static function getRoot()
+    {
+        if (isset($GLOBALS['root'])) {
+            return $GLOBALS['root'];
+        }
+
+        $pieces = explode('/', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']);
+        $rootTmp = '/';
+        foreach ($pieces as $piece) {
+            //we eliminate possible sscuttle subfolders (like gsearch for example)
+            if ($piece != '' && !strstr($piece, '.php')
+                && $piece != 'gsearch' && $piece != 'ajax'
+            ) {
+                $rootTmp .= $piece .'/';
+            }
+        }
+        if (($rootTmp != '/') && (substr($rootTmp, -1, 1) != '/')) {
+            $rootTmp .= '/';
+        }
+
+        //we do not prepend http since we also want to support https connections
+        // "http" is not required; it's automatically determined by the browser
+        // depending on the current connection.
+        return '//'. $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $rootTmp;
+    }
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/SemanticScuttle/constants.php b/src/SemanticScuttle/constants.php
index 306c32a..5d8ff2f 100644
--- a/src/SemanticScuttle/constants.php
+++ b/src/SemanticScuttle/constants.php
@@ -25,29 +25,7 @@ if (isset($GLOBALS['debugMode'])) {
 }
 
 // Determine the base URL as ROOT
-if (!isset($GLOBALS['root'])) {
-    $pieces = explode('/', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']);
-
-    $rootTmp = '/';
-    foreach ($pieces as $piece) {
-        //we eliminate possible sscuttle subfolders (like gsearch for example)
-        if ($piece != '' && !strstr($piece, '.php')
-            && $piece != 'gsearch' && $piece != 'ajax'
-        ) {
-            $rootTmp .= $piece .'/';
-        }
-    }
-    if (($rootTmp != '/') && (substr($rootTmp, -1, 1) != '/')) {
-        $rootTmp .= '/';
-    }
-
-    //we do not prepend http since we also want to support https connections
-    // "http" is not required; it's automatically determined by the browser
-    // depending on the current connection.
-    define('ROOT', '//'. $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $rootTmp);
-} else {
-    define('ROOT', $GLOBALS['root']);
-}
+define('ROOT', SemanticScuttle_Environment::getRoot());
 define('ROOT_JS', ROOT . 'js/jstree-1.0-rc2/');
 
 // Error codes
diff --git a/tests/SemanticScuttle/EnvironmentTest.php b/tests/SemanticScuttle/EnvironmentTest.php
index 3baa9ed..762d350 100644
--- a/tests/SemanticScuttle/EnvironmentTest.php
+++ b/tests/SemanticScuttle/EnvironmentTest.php
@@ -229,6 +229,40 @@ class SemanticScuttle_EnvironmentTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             '/dummy/foo', SemanticScuttle_Environment::getServerPathInfo()
         );
     }
+
+    public function testGetRootInRootDir()
+    {
+        $_SERVER = array(
+            'HTTP_HOST'       => 'bm.bogo',
+            'DOCUMENT_ROOT'   => '/etc/apache2/htdocs',
+            'SCRIPT_FILENAME' => '/home/cweiske/Dev/html/hosts/bm.bogo/index.php',
+            'QUERY_STRING'    => '',
+            'REQUEST_URI'     => '/',
+            'SCRIPT_NAME'     => '/index.php',
+            'PHP_SELF'        => '/index.php',
+        );
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            '//bm.bogo/',
+            SemanticScuttle_Environment::getRoot()
+        );
+    }
+
+    public function testGetRootInSubdir()
+    {
+        $_SERVER = array(
+            'HTTP_HOST'       => 'bm-subdir.bogo',
+            'DOCUMENT_ROOT'   => '/etc/apache2/htdocs',
+            'SCRIPT_FILENAME' => '/home/cweiske/Dev/html/hosts/bm-subdir.bogo/tools/scuttle/index.php',
+            'QUERY_STRING'    => '',
+            'REQUEST_URI'     => '/tools/scuttle/',
+            'SCRIPT_NAME'     => '/tools/scuttle/index.php',
+            'PHP_SELF'        => '/tools/scuttle/index.php',
+        );
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            '//bm-subdir.bogo/tools/scuttle/',
+            SemanticScuttle_Environment::getRoot()
+        );
+    }
 }
 
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file