diff --git a/bin/run_local.py b/bin/run_local.py
--- a/bin/run_local.py
+++ b/bin/run_local.py
@@ -1,72 +1,8 @@
-# allows bin/* to work without installation
-
-# this should be turned off when the programs are installed
+# this file can go away when all the bin/* are just launchers and everyone uses light9/run_local
 
-import sys, os, socket
+import sys
 
-from twisted.python.failure import Failure
-
-# to support 'import light9' until I rearrange things better:
+# to support 'import light9'
 sys.path.append('.')
 
-try:
-    import tkinter
-except ImportError:
-    pass
-else:
-
-    def rce(self, exc, val, tb):
-        sys.stderr.write("Exception in Tkinter callback\n")
-        if True:
-            sys.excepthook(exc, val, tb)
-        else:
-            Failure(val, exc, tb).printDetailedTraceback()
-
-    tkinter.Tk.report_callback_exception = rce
-
-import coloredlogs, logging, time
-try:
-    import faulthandler
-    faulthandler.enable()
-except ImportError:
-    pass
-
-if 0:
-    from IPython.core import ultratb
-    sys.excepthook = ultratb.FormattedTB(mode='Verbose',
-                                         color_scheme='Linux',
-                                         call_pdb=1)
-
-progName = sys.argv[0].split('/')[-1]
-log = logging.getLogger()  # this has to get the root logger
-log.name = progName  # but we can rename it for clarity
-
-
-class FractionTimeFilter(logging.Filter):
-
-    def filter(self, record):
-        record.fractionTime = (
-            time.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S', time.localtime(record.created)) +
-            ("%.3f" % (record.created % 1)).lstrip('0'))
-        # Don't filter the record.
-        return 1
-
-
-coloredlogs.install(
-    level='DEBUG',
-    fmt='%(fractionTime)s %(name)s[%(process)d] %(levelname)s %(message)s')
-logging.getLogger().handlers[0].addFilter(FractionTimeFilter())
-
-
-def setTerminalTitle(s):
-    if os.environ.get('TERM', '') in ['xterm', 'rxvt', 'rxvt-unicode-256color']:
-        print("\033]0;%s\007" % s)  # not escaped/protected correctly
-
-
-if 'listsongs' not in sys.argv[0] and 'homepageConfig' not in sys.argv[0]:
-    setTerminalTitle(
-        '[%s] %s' %
-        (socket.gethostname(), ' '.join(sys.argv).replace('bin/', '')))
-
-# see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cIOT9kM--g for commands that make
-# profiles and set background images
+from light9.run_local import log
diff --git a/bin/run_local.py b/light9/run_local.py
copy from bin/run_local.py
copy to light9/run_local.py
--- a/bin/run_local.py
+++ b/light9/run_local.py
@@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
-# allows bin/* to work without installation
-
-# this should be turned off when the programs are installed
+# bootstrap
 
 import sys, os, socket
 
 from twisted.python.failure import Failure
 
-# to support 'import light9' until I rearrange things better:
-sys.path.append('.')
 
 try:
     import tkinter