diff --git a/view-webapp/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/view/ApiTool.kt b/view-webapp/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/view/ApiTool.kt
index 0294f9e..2c790c1 100644
--- a/view-webapp/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/view/ApiTool.kt
+++ b/view-webapp/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/view/ApiTool.kt
@@ -10,10 +10,12 @@ import okhttp3.internal.EMPTY_REQUEST
 class ApiTool {
     companion object {
         const val JSON = "application/json"
-        val apiRoot = System.getProperty("pairgoth.api.url").let { base ->
-            if (base.endsWith('/')) "${base}api/"
-            else "${base}/api/"
-        }
+        val apiRoot =
+            (System.getProperty("pairgoth.api.url") ?: System.getProperty("pairgoth.webapp.url"))
+            .let { base ->
+                if (base.endsWith('/')) "${base}api/"
+                else "${base}/api/"
+            }
     }
     private val client = OkHttpClient()
     private fun prepare(url: String) = Request.Builder().url("$apiRoot$url").header("Accept", JSON)
diff --git a/webserver/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/application/Pairgoth.kt b/webserver/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/application/Pairgoth.kt
index f0223ef..e2e3c93 100644
--- a/webserver/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/application/Pairgoth.kt
+++ b/webserver/src/main/kotlin/org/jeudego/pairgoth/application/Pairgoth.kt
@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern
 
 fun main(vararg args: String) {
     try {
+        // read default properties and provided ones, if any
+        readProperties()
+        // extract war files from main archive
         extractWarFiles()
+        // launch web server
         launchServer()
     } catch (t: Throwable) {
         t.printStackTrace(System.err)
@@ -45,6 +49,30 @@ fun main(vararg args: String) {
 private val tmp = System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir")
 private val version = "1.0-SNAPSHOT" // TODO CB
 
+private fun readProperties() {
+    val defaultProps = getResource("/server.default.properties") ?: throw Error("missing default server properties")
+    defaultProps.openStream().use {
+        serverProps.load(InputStreamReader(it, StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
+    }
+    val properties = File("./pairgoth.properties")
+    if (properties.exists()) {
+        serverProps.load(FileReader(properties))
+        serverProps.entries.forEach { entry ->
+            val property = entry.key as String
+            val value = entry.value as String
+            if (!property.startsWith("webapp.ssl.")) {
+                // do not propagate ssl properties further
+                System.setProperty("pairgoth.$property", value)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    // we want colorized output on linux
+    if (System.getProperty("os.name") == "Linux")
+    {
+        System.setProperty("org.eclipse.jetty.logging.appender.MESSAGE_ESCAPE", "false");
+    }
+}
+
 private fun extractWarFiles() {
     // val jarLocation = object{}::class.java.protectionDomain.codeSource.location
     // prepare output directory
@@ -66,11 +94,11 @@ private fun extractWarFiles() {
         }
     }
 }
-
 private val mainClass = object{}::class.java.enclosingClass
 private val jarPath = mainClass.protectionDomain.codeSource.location.path.let { URLDecoder.decode(it, "UTF-8") }
 private val serverProps = Properties()
 private fun getResource(resource: String) = mainClass.getResource(resource)
+
 private fun getResourceProperty(key: String) = serverProps.getProperty(key)?.let { property ->
     val url = property.replace("\$jar", jarPath)
     if (!Resource.newResource(url).exists()) throw Error("resource not found: $url")
@@ -78,10 +106,6 @@ private fun getResourceProperty(key: String) = serverProps.getProperty(key)?.let
 } ?: throw Error("missing property: $key")
 
 private fun launchServer() {
-
-    // read default properties and provided ones, if any
-    readProperties()
-
     // create webapps contexts
     val webAppContexts = mutableListOf<WebAppContext>()
     val mode = serverProps["mode"] ?: throw Error("missing property: mode")
@@ -125,26 +149,6 @@ private fun createContext(webapp: String, contextPath: String) = WebAppContext()
     context.contextPath = contextPath
 }
 
-private fun readProperties() {
-    val defaultProps = getResource("/server.default.properties") ?: throw Error("missing default server properties")
-    defaultProps.openStream().use {
-        serverProps.load(InputStreamReader(it, StandardCharsets.UTF_8))
-    }
-    val properties = File("./pairgoth.properties")
-    if (properties.exists()) {
-        serverProps.load(FileReader(properties))
-        serverProps.entries.forEach { entry ->
-            val property = entry.key as String
-            val value = entry.value as String
-            if (!property.startsWith("webapp.ssl.")) {
-                // do not propagate ssl properties further
-            } else {
-                System.setProperty("pairgoth.$property", value)
-            }
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 private fun buildSecureConnector(server: Server, port: Int): ServerConnector {
     // set up http/2
     val httpConfig = HttpConfiguration().apply {