diff --git a/example-conf.yml b/example-conf.yml
index 1f27c7c..fa99155 100644
--- a/example-conf.yml
+++ b/example-conf.yml
@@ -86,6 +86,14 @@ pylink:
     # This defaults to False if not set.
     #join_empty_channels: false
 
+    # Determines where the plugins write their databases. The path can be relative to the directory
+    # PyLink is run from. Defaults to the current directory.
+    #data_dir: ""
+
+    # Determines where the PID file is written. The path can be relative to the directory PyLink is
+    # run from. Defaults to the current directory.
+    #pid_dir: ""
+
 login:
     # NOTE: for users migrating from PyLink < 1.1, the old login:user/login:password settings
     # have been deprecated. We strongly recommend migrating to the new "accounts:" block below, as
@@ -649,10 +657,14 @@ logging:
             "#services":
                 loglevel: INFO
 
+    # The directory where the log files are written. The path can be relative to the directory
+    # PyLink is run from. Defaults to "log/".
+    #log_dir: "log"
+
     files:
-        # Logs to file targets. These will be placed in the log/ folder in the
-        # PyLink directory, with a filename based on the current instance name
-        # and the target name: instancename-targetname.log
+        # Logs to file targets. These will be placed in the folder specified by log_dir with a
+        # filename based on the current instance name and the target name:
+        # instancename-targetname.log
 
         # When running with "pylink", this will create log/pylink-errors.log
         # When running with "pylink someconf.yml", this will create log/someconf-errors.log
diff --git a/launcher.py b/launcher.py
index 3b974c8..551d37e 100644
--- a/launcher.py
+++ b/launcher.py
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ def _main():
 
     # Write and check for an existing PID file unless specifically told not to.
     if not args.no_pid:
-        pidfile = '%s.pid' % conf.confname
+        pid_dir = conf.conf['pylink'].get('pid_dir', '')
+        pidfile = os.path.join(pid_dir, '%s.pid' % conf.confname)
         pid_exists = False
         pid = None
         if os.path.exists(pidfile):
diff --git a/log.py b/log.py
index cc49d31..498b3f0 100644
--- a/log.py
+++ b/log.py
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ from . import conf, world
 # Stores a list of active file loggers.
 fileloggers = []
 
-logdir = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'log')
-os.makedirs(logdir, exist_ok=True)
-
 # TODO: perhaps make this format configurable?
 _format = '%(asctime)s [%(levelname)s] %(message)s'
 logformatter = logging.Formatter(_format)
@@ -47,11 +44,19 @@ def _make_file_logger(filename, level=None):
     """
     Initializes a file logging target with the given filename and level.
     """
+    logconf = conf.conf.get('logging', {})
+
+    logdir = logconf.get('log_dir')
+    if logdir is None:
+        logdir = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'log')
+
+    os.makedirs(logdir, exist_ok=True)
+
     # Use log names specific to the current instance, to prevent multiple
     # PyLink instances from overwriting each others' log files.
     target = os.path.join(logdir, '%s-%s.log' % (conf.confname, filename))
 
-    logrotconf = conf.conf.get('logging', {}).get('filerotation', {})
+    logrotconf = logconf.get('filerotation', {})
 
     # Max amount of bytes per file, before rotation is done. Defaults to 20 MiB.
     maxbytes = logrotconf.get('max_bytes', 20971520)
diff --git a/structures.py b/structures.py
index e81560f..576c936 100644
--- a/structures.py
+++ b/structures.py
@@ -201,7 +201,12 @@ class DataStore:
     Generic database class. Plugins should use a subclass of this such as JSONDataStore or
     PickleDataStore.
     """
-    def __init__(self, name, filename, save_frequency=None, default_db=None):
+    def __init__(self, name, filename, save_frequency=None, default_db=None, data_dir=None):
+        if data_dir is None:
+            data_dir = conf.conf['pylink'].get('data_dir', '')
+
+        filename = os.path.join(data_dir, filename)
+
         self.name = name
         self.filename = filename
         self.tmp_filename = filename + '.tmp'