Command line arguments

A subset of configuration options can be provided through the command line. Command line properties take precedence over properties set in the configuration file and system properties (-Dproperty=value).

Command line parameter	Configuration property	Default	Description
-p <port>	Port	80	The port number that FitNesse listens to. The default is 80 because this is the port that internet browsers use by default. If your machine already has a web server running, it will be using port 80, so FitNesse should be set up to use a different port, like 8080. java -jar fitnesse-standalone.jar -p 8080
-d <path>	RootPath	.	The directory in which FitNesse expects to find its page root. It defaults to the current directory ('.').
-r <path>	FitNesseRoot	FitNesseRoot	The directory in which FitNesse looks for top level pages.
-v	LogLevel=verbose	normal	Set the system log level to verbose.
-l <path>	LogDirectory	no logging	If this argument is not present, then FitNesse will not create access log files. Otherwise it will create access log files in the specified directory. See Log Files. Please note that access logging is different from system logging.
-e <days>	VersionsController.days	14	Sets the expiration date for page versions. Any page version older that the number of days specified by this argument are considered to have expired. Expired pages are subject to deletion. Just when they are deleted is not specified.
-o	OmittingUpdates	install updates	When a new version of FitNesse is run for the first time, it checks the existing environment to see if any changes need to be made in order for the existing environment to be compatible with the new version of FitNesse. For example, if we change the icon on the upper right, FitNesse might go to the http://fitnesse.org/files site and automatically download the new icon. Or if the format of the properties files, or of the wikipages changes, FitNesse might run through all the existing pages and update their format. This process is called updating. Sometimes you don't want updating to take place. If so, then use the -o argument to disable updating.
-a authentication-parameter	Credentials	none	Enable authentication. If the authentication-parameter is of the form "username:password" then single user authentication is enabled, and just that one user will be known to the system. If the authentication-parameter is of the form "filename" then the file will be read. It will consist of any number of lines of the form username:password and all those users will be known to the system. See Password File for more information
-i	InstallOnly	no	Install only, do not run fitnesse after install.
-c <command>	Command	none	Run a Rest Command and then exit. You can find more information on the -c options at Restful Services.
-b <filename>	RedirectOutput	stdout	redirect command output. This is most useful in conjunction with the -c option
-f <config file>	n.a.	plugins.properties	Load an alternative configuration file. The file format adhere's to the java standard of property files. If this option is not provided, the default file plugins.properties will be loaded if it exists.
-lh	LocalhostOnly	false	Bind only to the local loopback interface, preventing access to the wiki from other computers in the network
-w <workers>	MaximumWorkers	100	The maximum number of workers to use to handle incoming requests (must be at least 5)

Java system properties

Some system properties can be used to control and/or to configure FitNesse (-Dproperty=value):

System property	Description
slim.port	If you are using Slim, you can also pass in -Dslim.port to hard code the port that the Slim server uses, or configure slim.port in the configuration file. This can be used in conjunction with Jenkins Port Allocator Plugin or the reserver-network-port mojo of the Maven build-helper plugin.
prevent.system.exit	If this property is set to true, then the SystemExitSecurityManager is activated to catch System.exit() calls and prevent them from terminating the VM. Default is set to true.