diff -r ebca69d673fd groovy.grails/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsRuntimePanel.java
--- a/groovy.grails/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsRuntimePanel.java	Mon Jun 02 16:27:07 2008 +0200
+++ b/groovy.grails/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsRuntimePanel.java	Mon Jun 02 18:07:08 2008 +0200
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import org.openide.awt.HtmlBrowser;
 import org.openide.awt.HtmlBrowser;
 import org.openide.util.Exceptions;
 import org.openide.util.NbBundle;
-import org.openide.util.Utilities;
 
 final class GrailsRuntimePanel extends javax.swing.JPanel {
 
@@ -25,16 +24,6 @@ final class GrailsRuntimePanel extends j
         initComponents();
         // TODO listen to changes in form fields and call controller.changed()
     }
-    
-    boolean checkForGrailsExecutable ( File pathToGrails ) {
-        String GRAILS_BINARY = "grails";
-        
-        if(Utilities.isWindows()){
-            GRAILS_BINARY = "grails.bat";
-        }
-        
-        return new File (new File (pathToGrails, "bin"), GRAILS_BINARY).isFile ();
-        }
     
     void displayGrailsHomeWarning() {
         DialogDisplayer.getDefault().notify(new NotifyDescriptor.Message(
@@ -123,7 +112,7 @@ final class GrailsRuntimePanel extends j
                 SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor (this), NbBundle.getMessage(GrailsRuntimePanel.class, "LBL_Select_Directory"));
             if (r == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
                 File file = chooser.getSelectedFile ();
-                if (!checkForGrailsExecutable(file)) {
+                if (!settings.checkForGrailsExecutable(file)) {
                     displayGrailsHomeWarning();
                     return;
                 }
@@ -158,7 +147,7 @@ final class GrailsRuntimePanel extends j
     void store() {
         String location = grailsHomeLocation.getText();
         
-        if (!checkForGrailsExecutable(new File(location))) {
+        if (!settings.checkForGrailsExecutable(new File(location))) {
             displayGrailsHomeWarning();
             return;
             }
diff -r ebca69d673fd groovy.grails/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsSettings.java
--- a/groovy.grails/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsSettings.java	Mon Jun 02 16:27:07 2008 +0200
+++ b/groovy.grails/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsSettings.java	Mon Jun 02 18:07:08 2008 +0200
@@ -29,11 +29,13 @@ package org.netbeans.modules.groovy.grai
 
 import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
 import java.beans.PropertyChangeSupport;
+import java.io.File;
 import java.util.prefs.Preferences;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.Project;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.ProjectInformation;
 import org.netbeans.modules.groovy.grails.api.GrailsEnvironment;
 import org.openide.util.NbPreferences;
+import org.openide.util.Utilities;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -173,4 +175,14 @@ public final class GrailsSettings {
     private Preferences getPreferences() {
         return NbPreferences.forModule(GrailsSettings.class);
     }
+    
+    public boolean checkForGrailsExecutable ( File pathToGrails ) {
+        String grailsBinary = "startGrails";
+        
+        if(Utilities.isWindows()){
+            grailsBinary += ".bat";
+        }
+        
+        return new File (new File (pathToGrails, "bin"), grailsBinary).isFile ();
+    }
 }
diff -r ebca69d673fd groovy.grails/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsSettingsTest.java
--- a/groovy.grails/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsSettingsTest.java	Mon Jun 02 16:27:07 2008 +0200
+++ b/groovy.grails/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/groovy/grails/settings/GrailsSettingsTest.java	Mon Jun 02 18:07:09 2008 +0200
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 
 package org.netbeans.modules.groovy.grails.settings;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.Project;
 import org.netbeans.junit.NbTestCase;
@@ -108,4 +109,21 @@ public class GrailsSettingsTest extends 
         settings.setDeployDirForProject(project, "directory2");
         assertEquals("directory2", settings.getDeployDirForProject(project));
     }
+    
+    public void testCheckForGrailsExecutableFromDebPackage() throws IOException {        
+        assertGrailsExecutableExists(new File("/usr/share/grails"));        
+    }
+    
+    public void testCheckForGrailsExecutableFromEnvVariable() throws IOException {        
+        if (System.getenv("GRAILS_HOME") != null) {
+            assertGrailsExecutableExists(new File(System.getenv("GRAILS_HOME")));
+        }
+    }
+    
+    private void assertGrailsExecutableExists(File grailsHome) {
+        if (grailsHome.exists()) {
+            final GrailsSettings settings = GrailsSettings.getInstance();
+            assertEquals(true, settings.checkForGrailsExecutable(grailsHome));
+        }
+    }
 }