diff --git a/o.n.bootstrap/launcher/unix/nbexec b/o.n.bootstrap/launcher/unix/nbexec
--- a/o.n.bootstrap/launcher/unix/nbexec
+++ b/o.n.bootstrap/launcher/unix/nbexec
@@ -483,6 +483,14 @@
         fi
     fi
 
+    if [ "$restart" ] ; then
+        # remove debug options, since the debugger does not count with application restart
+        if [ "`echo $jargs | grep -- "-Xrunjdwp:[^ ]*server=n"`" ] ; then
+            jargs=`echo "$jargs" | sed 's/[^ ]*-Xdebug[^ ]*//'`
+            jargs=`echo "$jargs" | sed 's/[^ ]*-Xrunjdwp:[^ ]*server=n[^ ]*//'`
+        fi
+    fi
+
 done
 
 # and we exit.