The SP is controlled by a handful of environment variables that can be used to override the default files and locations used. If not set, the software uses values that are either compiled in based on the installation location (Unix), or defaulted (Windows).

• SHIBSP_PREFIX
  • Base directory of SP installation. Defaults to c:\opt\shibboleth-sp on Windows. On Unix, defaults to the configure prefix used when building the software.
• SHIBSP_CONFIG
  • Name of primary configuration file. Defaults to shibboleth2.xml and is assumed to be in etc/shibboleth relative to the installation prefix.
• SHIBSP_SCHEMAS
  • A list of XML Schema catalogs that map XML namespaces to schema files. Used when validating XML. Like a Java classpath, the paths are separated by a colon on Unix and a semicolon on Windows. The default catalog files are located in share/xml/xmltooling, share/xml/opensaml, and share/xml/shibboleth, relative to the installation prefix.  On Windows they are located relative to %PROGRAMDATA%\Shibboleth\. The actual files have to be set, not just the directories.
• SHIBSP_LOGGING
  • Name of a logging configuration file to use when running command line tools, or in the case of shibd, before dedicated logging is initialized. Defaults to console.logger and is assumed to be in etc/shibboleth relative to the installation prefix.
• SHIBSP_LIBDIR
  • Absolute directory (or a relative path to append to the installation prefix) where library files should be found. Used when resolving relative paths to libraries in configuration files. Defaults to lib on Windows.
• SHIBSP_LOGDIR
  • Absolute directory (or a relative path to append to the installation prefix) where log files should be found. Defaults to var\log on Windows.
• SHIBSP_CFGDIR
  • Absolute directory (or a relative path to append to the installation prefix) where configuration files should be found. Used when resolving relative paths to supplemental configuration files. Defaults to etc on Windows.
• SHIBSP_CACHEDIR (Version 2.5 and Above)
  • Absolute directory (or a relative path to append to the installation prefix) where cached state intended to survive reboot should be found. Used when resolving relative paths to cached state in configuration files. Defaults to var\cache on Windows.
• SHIBSP_RUNDIR
  • Absolute directory (or a relative path to append to the installation prefix) where runtime state should be found. Used when resolving relative paths to runtime state in configuration files. Defaults to var\run on Windows.
• SHIBSP_XMLDIR
  • Absolute directory (or a relative path to append to the installation prefix) where XML schema and catalog files should be found. Defaults to share\xml on Windows.