diff --git a/CHANGES-4.3.md b/CHANGES-4.3.md
index 7eaf2e586..ed1bbd3a5 100644
--- a/CHANGES-4.3.md
+++ b/CHANGES-4.3.md
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ File format:
 - One list item per change topic
   Change log ends with a list of github PRs
 
+## v4.3.15
+
+### Enhancements
+
+* Made possible for EMQX to boot from a Linux directory which has white spaces in its path.
+
 ## v4.3.14
 
 ### Enhancements
diff --git a/bin/emqx b/bin/emqx
index 19c154d0d..1722e96e0 100755
--- a/bin/emqx
+++ b/bin/emqx
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
 
 set -e
 
-ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$(readlink "$0" || echo "$0")")"/..; pwd -P)"
+RUNNER_ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$(readlink "$0" || echo "$0")")"/..; pwd -P)"
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090
-. "$ROOT_DIR"/releases/emqx_vars
+. "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR"/releases/emqx_vars
 
 RUNNER_SCRIPT="$RUNNER_BIN_DIR/$REL_NAME"
 CODE_LOADING_MODE="${CODE_LOADING_MODE:-embedded}"
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ fi
 if [ -z "$WITH_EPMD" ]; then
     EPMD_ARG="-start_epmd false -epmd_module ekka_epmd -proto_dist ekka"
 else
-    EPMD_ARG="-start_epmd true $PROTO_DIST_ARG"
+    PROTO_DIST=$(grep -E '^[ \t]*cluster.proto_dist[ \t]*=[ \t]*' "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/emqx.conf" 2> /dev/null | tail -1 | awk -F"= " '{print $NF}')
+    EPMD_ARG="-start_epmd true -proto_dist $PROTO_DIST"
 fi
 
 # Warn the user if ulimit -n is less than 1024
@@ -157,9 +158,6 @@ if [ "$ULIMIT_F" -lt 1024 ]; then
     echo "!!!!"
 fi
 
-# By default, use cuttlefish to generate app.config and vm.args
-CUTTLEFISH="${USE_CUTTLEFISH:-yes}"
-
 SED_REPLACE="sed -i "
 case $(sed --help 2>&1) in
     *GNU*) SED_REPLACE="sed -i ";;
@@ -230,73 +228,69 @@ relx_start_command() {
            "$START_OPTION"
 }
 
+trim() {
+    echo -e "${1}" | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//' -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//'
+}
+
 # Function to generate app.config and vm.args
 generate_config() {
     ## Delete the *.siz files first or it cann't start after
     ## changing the config 'log.rotation.size'
     rm -rf "${RUNNER_LOG_DIR}"/*.siz
 
-    if [ "$CUTTLEFISH" != "yes" ]; then
-        # Note: we have added a parameter '-vm_args' to this. It
-        # appears redundant but it is not! the erlang vm allows us to
-        # access all arguments to the erl command EXCEPT '-args_file',
-        # so in order to get access to this file location from within
-        # the vm, we need to pass it in twice.
-        CONFIG_ARGS=" -config $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/app.config -args_file $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args -vm_args $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args "
-    else
-        EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION=""
-        if [ "${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF:-}" != "" ]; then
-            EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION="-i ${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF}"
-        fi
-
-        set +e
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-        CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT="$("$ERTS_PATH"/escript "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR"/bin/cuttlefish -v -i "$REL_DIR"/emqx.schema $EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION -c "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR"/emqx.conf -d "$RUNNER_DATA_DIR"/configs generate)"
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2181
-        RESULT=$?
-        set -e
-        if [ $RESULT -gt 0 ]; then
-            echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT"
-            exit $RESULT
-        fi
-        # print override from environment variables (EMQX_*)
-        echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT" | sed -e '$d'
-        CONFIG_ARGS=$(echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT" | tail -n 1)
-
-        ## Merge cuttlefish generated *.args into the vm.args
-        CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE=$(echo "$CONFIG_ARGS" | sed -n 's/^.*\(vm_args[[:space:]]\)//p' | awk '{print $1}')
-        TMP_ARG_FILE="$RUNNER_DATA_DIR/configs/vm.args.tmp"
-        cp "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args" "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-        echo "" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-        echo "-pa ${REL_DIR}/consolidated" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-        sed '/^#/d' "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE" | sed '/^$/d' | while IFS='' read -r ARG_LINE || [ -n "$ARG_LINE" ]; do
-            ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{$NF="";print}')
-            ARG_VALUE=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $NF}')
-            if [ "$ARG_KEY" =  '' ]; then
-                ## for the flags, e.g. -heart -emu_args etc
-                ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $1}')
-                ARG_VALUE=''
-                TMP_ARG_KEY=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $1}')
-                if [ "$TMP_ARG_KEY" = '' ]; then
-                    echo "$ARG_KEY" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-                fi
-            else
-                TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $NF}')
-                if [ "$ARG_VALUE" != "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ] ; then
-                    if [ -n "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ]; then
-                        sh -c "$SED_REPLACE 's/^$ARG_KEY.*$/$ARG_LINE/' $TMP_ARG_FILE"
-                    else
-                        echo "$ARG_LINE" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-                    fi
-                fi
-            fi
-        done
-        mv -f "$TMP_ARG_FILE" "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE"
+    EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION=""
+    if [ "${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF:-}" != "" ]; then
+        EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION="-i ${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF}"
     fi
 
+    set +e
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-    if ! relx_nodetool chkconfig $CONFIG_ARGS; then
-        echoerr "Error reading $CONFIG_ARGS"
+    CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT="$("$ERTS_PATH"/escript "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR"/bin/cuttlefish -v -i "$REL_DIR"/emqx.schema $EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION -c "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR"/emqx.conf -d "$RUNNER_DATA_DIR"/configs generate)"
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2181
+    RESULT=$?
+    set -e
+    if [ $RESULT -gt 0 ]; then
+        echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT"
+        exit $RESULT
+    fi
+    ## transform a single line args list like '-config ... -args_file ... -vm_args ...' to lines and get path for each file respectively
+    ## NOTE: the -args_file and -vm_args are the same file passed twice because args_file is used by beam, but not possible to get at runtime
+    ## by calling init:get_arguments/0
+    lines="$(echo "$CUTTLEFISH_OUTPUT" | tail -1 | sed 's/-config/\nconfig=/g' | sed 's/-args_file/\nargs_file=/g' | sed 's/-vm_args/\nvm_args=/g')"
+    CONFIG_FILE="$(trim "$(echo -e "$lines" | grep 'config=' | sed 's/config=//g')")"
+    CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE="$(trim "$(echo -e "$lines" | grep 'vm_args=' | sed 's/vm_args=//g')")"
+
+    ## Merge cuttlefish generated *.args into the vm.args
+    TMP_ARG_FILE="$RUNNER_DATA_DIR/configs/vm.args.tmp"
+    cp "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args" "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+    echo "" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+    echo "-pa \"${REL_DIR}/consolidated\"" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+    sed '/^#/d' "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE" | sed '/^$/d' | while IFS='' read -r ARG_LINE || [ -n "$ARG_LINE" ]; do
+        ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{$NF="";print}')
+        ARG_VALUE=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $NF}')
+        if [ "$ARG_KEY" =  '' ]; then
+            ## for the flags, e.g. -heart -emu_args etc
+            ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $1}')
+            ARG_VALUE=''
+            TMP_ARG_KEY=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $1}')
+            if [ "$TMP_ARG_KEY" = '' ]; then
+                echo "$ARG_KEY" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+            fi
+        else
+            TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $NF}')
+            if [ "$ARG_VALUE" != "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ] ; then
+                if [ -n "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ]; then
+                    sh -c "$SED_REPLACE 's/^$ARG_KEY.*$/$ARG_LINE/' \"$TMP_ARG_FILE\""
+                else
+                    echo "$ARG_LINE" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+                fi
+            fi
+        fi
+    done
+    mv -f "$TMP_ARG_FILE" "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE"
+
+    if ! relx_nodetool chkconfig -config "$CONFIG_FILE"; then
+        echoerr "Error reading $CONFIG_FILE"
         exit 1
     fi
 }
@@ -341,15 +335,6 @@ wait_for() {
     done
 }
 
-# Use $CWD/etc/sys.config if exists
-if [ -z "$RELX_CONFIG_PATH" ]; then
-    if [ -f "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/sys.config" ]; then
-        RELX_CONFIG_PATH="-config $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/sys.config"
-    else
-        RELX_CONFIG_PATH=""
-    fi
-fi
-
 IS_BOOT_COMMAND='no'
 case "$1" in
     start|start_boot)
@@ -423,14 +408,6 @@ if [ -z "$COOKIE" ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-# Support for IPv6 Dist. See: https://github.com/emqtt/emqttd/issues/1460
-PROTO_DIST=$(grep -E '^[ \t]*cluster.proto_dist[ \t]*=[ \t]*' "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/emqx.conf" 2> /dev/null | tail -1 | awk -F"= " '{print $NF}')
-if [ -z "$PROTO_DIST" ]; then
-    PROTO_DIST_ARG=""
-else
-    PROTO_DIST_ARG="-proto_dist $PROTO_DIST"
-fi
-
 cd "$ROOTDIR"
 
 # User can specify an sname without @hostname
@@ -667,14 +644,17 @@ case "$1" in
         # Store passed arguments since they will be erased by `set`
         ARGS="$*"
 
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # $RELX_CONFIG_PATH $CONFIG_ARGS $EPMD_ARG are supposed to be split by whitespace
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # $EPMD_ARG is supposed to be split by whitespace
         # Build an array of arguments to pass to exec later on
         # Build it here because this command will be used for logging.
         set -- "$BINDIR/erlexec" \
             -boot "$BOOTFILE" -mode "$CODE_LOADING_MODE" \
             -boot_var ERTS_LIB_DIR "$ERTS_LIB_DIR" \
             -mnesia dir "\"${MNESIA_DATA_DIR}\"" \
-            $RELX_CONFIG_PATH $CONFIG_ARGS $EPMD_ARG
+            -config "$CONFIG_FILE" \
+            -args_file "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE" \
+            -vm_args "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE" \
+            $EPMD_ARG
 
         # Log the startup
         logger -t "${REL_NAME}[$$]" "$* -- ${1+$ARGS}"
@@ -708,14 +688,17 @@ case "$1" in
         # Store passed arguments since they will be erased by `set`
         ARGS="$*"
 
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # $RELX_CONFIG_PATH $CONFIG_ARGS $EPMD_ARG are supposed to be split by whitespace
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086 # $EPMD_ARG is supposed to be split by whitespace
         # Build an array of arguments to pass to exec later on
         # Build it here because this command will be used for logging.
         set -- "$BINDIR/erlexec" $FOREGROUNDOPTIONS \
             -boot "$REL_DIR/$BOOTFILE" -mode "$CODE_LOADING_MODE" \
             -boot_var ERTS_LIB_DIR "$ERTS_LIB_DIR" \
             -mnesia dir "\"${MNESIA_DATA_DIR}\"" \
-            $RELX_CONFIG_PATH $CONFIG_ARGS $EPMD_ARG
+            -config "$CONFIG_FILE" \
+            -args_file "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE" \
+            -vm_args "$CUTTLE_GEN_ARG_FILE" \
+            $EPMD_ARG
 
         # Log the startup
         logger -t "${REL_NAME}[$$]" "$* -- ${1+$ARGS}"
diff --git a/bin/emqx_ctl b/bin/emqx_ctl
index 8d729083d..bed351b7b 100755
--- a/bin/emqx_ctl
+++ b/bin/emqx_ctl
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
 
 set -e
 
-ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$(readlink "$0" || echo "$0")")"/..; pwd -P)"
+RUNNER_ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$(readlink "$0" || echo "$0")")"/..; pwd -P)"
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090
-. "$ROOT_DIR"/releases/emqx_vars
+. "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR"/releases/emqx_vars
 
 export RUNNER_ROOT_DIR
 export REL_VSN
diff --git a/data/emqx_vars b/data/emqx_vars
index 453bd618f..a872da03a 100644
--- a/data/emqx_vars
+++ b/data/emqx_vars
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 REL_VSN="{{ release_version }}"
 ERTS_VSN="{{ erts_vsn }}"
 ERL_OPTS="{{ erl_opts }}"
-RUNNER_ROOT_DIR="{{ runner_root_dir }}"
 RUNNER_BIN_DIR="{{ runner_bin_dir }}"
 RUNNER_LOG_DIR="{{ runner_log_dir }}"
 RUNNER_LIB_DIR="{{ runner_lib_dir }}"
diff --git a/rebar.config.erl b/rebar.config.erl
index 1000a2c92..226597967 100644
--- a/rebar.config.erl
+++ b/rebar.config.erl
@@ -223,7 +223,6 @@ overlay_vars_pkg(bin) ->
     , {platform_lib_dir, "lib"}
     , {platform_log_dir, "log"}
     , {platform_plugins_dir,  "etc/plugins"}
-    , {runner_root_dir, "$(cd $(dirname $(readlink $0 || echo $0))/..; pwd -P)"}
     , {runner_bin_dir, "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR/bin"}
     , {runner_etc_dir, "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR/etc"}
     , {runner_lib_dir, "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR/lib"}
@@ -238,7 +237,6 @@ overlay_vars_pkg(pkg) ->
     , {platform_lib_dir, ""}
     , {platform_log_dir, "/var/log/emqx"}
     , {platform_plugins_dir, "/var/lib/emqx/plugins"}
-    , {runner_root_dir, "/usr/lib/emqx"}
     , {runner_bin_dir, "/usr/bin"}
     , {runner_etc_dir, "/etc/emqx"}
     , {runner_lib_dir, "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR/lib"}