diff --git a/tester/common/bc_tester_utils.c b/tester/common/bc_tester_utils.c
index bc1980d17..62ccc5f19 100644
--- a/tester/common/bc_tester_utils.c
+++ b/tester/common/bc_tester_utils.c
@@ -445,11 +445,8 @@ void bc_tester_uninit(void) {
 }
 
 static void bc_tester_set_dir_prefix(char **prefix, const char *name) {
-	size_t len = strlen(name);
 	if (*prefix != NULL) free(*prefix);
-	*prefix = malloc(len + 1);
-	strncpy(*prefix, name, len);
-	(*prefix)[len] = '\0';
+	*prefix = strdup(name);
 }
 
 const char * bc_tester_get_resource_dir_prefix(void) {
@@ -474,7 +471,6 @@ static char * bc_tester_path(const char *prefix, const char *name) {
 		size_t len = strlen(prefix) + 1 + strlen(name) + 1;
 		file = malloc(len);
 		snprintf(file, len, "%s/%s", prefix, name);
-		file[strlen(file)] = '\0';
 	}
 	return file;
 }
diff --git a/tester/liblinphone_tester.c b/tester/liblinphone_tester.c
index d49c890de..1c542d736 100644
--- a/tester/liblinphone_tester.c
+++ b/tester/liblinphone_tester.c
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	liblinphone_tester_init(NULL);
 
-	if (strstr(argv[0], ".libs")) {
+	if (strstr(argv[0], ".libs") && argv[0][0] == '/') {
 		char res_dir[128] = {0};
 		// this allows to launch liblinphone_tester from outside of tester directory
 		strncpy(res_dir, argv[0], strstr(argv[0], ".libs")-argv[0]);
diff --git a/tester/message_tester.c b/tester/message_tester.c
index 36326f1e7..f2e663483 100644
--- a/tester/message_tester.c
+++ b/tester/message_tester.c
@@ -1431,7 +1431,7 @@ static void is_composing_notification(void) {
 	LinphoneCoreManager* marie = linphone_core_manager_new("marie_rc");
 	LinphoneCoreManager* pauline = linphone_core_manager_new( "pauline_tcp_rc");
 	chat_room = linphone_core_get_chat_room(pauline->lc, marie->identity);
-
+	linphone_core_get_chat_room(marie->lc, pauline->identity); /*make marie create the chatroom with pauline, which is necessary for receiving the is-composing*/
 	{
 		int dummy=0;
 		wait_for_until(marie->lc,pauline->lc,&dummy,1,100); /*just to have time to purge message stored in the server*/