diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 46f1ea23..43cd8bf9 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 TODO list, in order of importance:
 
  * freely resizable (e.g. using your mouse, for now) percentage of rows/cols
- * fullscreen (handling of applications)
+ * fullscreen (handling of applications, mplayer, firefox, xpdf, wmctrl)
  * fullscreen (implementing a mode, like default, stacked)
  * xinerama
  * document stuff!
diff --git a/include/i3.h b/include/i3.h
index d2453f47..c9fc80ed 100644
--- a/include/i3.h
+++ b/include/i3.h
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ extern Display *xkbdpy;
 extern TAILQ_HEAD(bindings_head, Binding) bindings;
 extern xcb_event_handlers_t evenths;
 extern char *pattern;
-extern char **environment;
 extern int num_screens;
 
 #endif
diff --git a/include/util.h b/include/util.h
index 9eb2a447..05e05f2e 100644
--- a/include/util.h
+++ b/include/util.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #ifndef _UTIL_H
 #define _UTIL_H
 
-void start_application(const char *path, const char *args);
+void start_application(const char *command);
 void check_error(xcb_connection_t *connection, xcb_void_cookie_t cookie, char *err_message);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/commands.c b/src/commands.c
index 8e3161cf..23b188ab 100644
--- a/src/commands.c
+++ b/src/commands.c
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ void parse_command(xcb_connection_t *conn, const char *command) {
 	/* Is it an <exec>? */
 	if (strncmp(command, "exec ", strlen("exec ")) == 0) {
 		printf("starting \"%s\"\n", command + strlen("exec "));
-		start_application(command+strlen("exec "), NULL);
+		start_application(command+strlen("exec "));
 		return;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/mainx.c b/src/mainx.c
index 359e3f74..2d2188e3 100644
--- a/src/mainx.c
+++ b/src/mainx.c
@@ -42,10 +42,6 @@ static const int LEFT = 5;
 static const int BOTTOM = 5;
 static const int RIGHT = 5;
 
-/* This is the filtered environment which will be passed to opened applications.
- * It contains DISPLAY (naturally) and locales stuff (LC_*, LANG) */
-char **environment;
-
 /* hm, xcb_wm wants us to implement this. */
 table_t *byChild = 0;
 table_t *byParent = 0;
@@ -273,28 +269,13 @@ static void initialize_xinerama(xcb_connection_t *conn) {
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *env[]) {
-	int i, e = 0;
-
-	for (i = 0; (env[i] != NULL); i++)
-		if (strncmp(env[i], "LC_", strlen("LC_")) == 0 ||
-			strncmp(env[i], "LANG=", strlen("LANG=")) == 0 ||
-			strncmp(env[i], "DISPLAY=", strlen("DISPLAY=")) == 0) {
-			printf("Passing environment \"%s\"\n", env[i]);
-			environment = realloc(environment, sizeof(char*) * ++e);
-			environment[e-1] = env[i];
-		}
-
-	/* environment has to be NULL-terminated */
-	environment = realloc(environment, sizeof(char*) * ++e);
-	environment[e-1] = NULL;
-
-	init_table();
-
+	int i, screens;
 	xcb_connection_t *c;
 	xcb_property_handlers_t prophs;
 	xcb_window_t root;
 
-	int screens;
+	/* Initialize the table data structures for each workspace */
+	init_table();
 
 	memset(&evenths, 0, sizeof(xcb_event_handlers_t));
 	memset(&prophs, 0, sizeof(xcb_property_handlers_t));
@@ -306,8 +287,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *env[]) {
 
 	c = xcb_connect(NULL, &screens);
 
-	printf("x screen is %d\n", screens);
-
 	/* TODO: this has to be more beautiful somewhen */
 	int major, minor, error;
 
@@ -414,7 +393,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *env[]) {
 	printf("Checking for Xinerama...\n");
 	initialize_xinerama(c);
 
-	start_application(TERMINAL, NULL);
+	start_application(TERMINAL);
 
 	xcb_flush(c);
 
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 1263cdc4..81ae50df 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -2,25 +2,38 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
 
 #include "i3.h"
 
 /*
- * Starts the given application with the given args.
+ * Starts the given application by passing it through a shell. We use double fork
+ * to avoid zombie processes. As the started application’s parent exits (immediately),
+ * the application is reparented to init (process-id 1), which correctly handles
+ * childs, so we don’t have to do it :-).
+ *
+ * The shell is determined by looking for the SHELL environment variable. If it
+ * does not exist, /bin/sh is used.
  *
  */
-void start_application(const char *path, const char *args) {
-	pid_t pid;
-	if ((pid = vfork()) == 0) {
-		/* This is the child */
-		char *argv[2];
-		/* TODO: For now, we ignore args. Later on, they should be parsed
-		   correctly (like in the shell?) */
-		argv[0] = strdup(path);
-		argv[1] = NULL;
-		execve(path, argv, environment);
-		/* not reached */
+void start_application(const char *command) {
+	if (fork() == 0) {
+		/* Child process */
+		if (fork() == 0) {
+			/* Stores the path of the shell */
+			static const char *shell = NULL;
+
+			if (shell == NULL)
+				if ((shell = getenv("SHELL")) == NULL)
+					shell = "/bin/sh";
+
+			/* This is the child */
+			execl(shell, shell, "-c", command, NULL);
+			/* not reached */
+		}
+		exit(0);
 	}
+	wait(0);
 }
 
 /*