I've been working on a set of software that loads its configuration from a
properties-style config file specified as the command-line argument.  The
configuration-loader reads the properties (mainly relative paths to data
files) from the config file and stores them with System.setProperty(String,
String), so that all classes can read them easily with getProperty(String).

In effect, I've been using the system properties as a global warehouse of
String variables, to avoid having to pass additional references to every
class that might need these variables.

We're now developing a web application version of the software, and I've
discovered that the system properties are not writable [1] from an
application running in Tomcat5, so I can't store the configuration data
this way.

Is it possible to override this -- at least in a limited way?  
If so, how dangerous is it?

Or what alternatives do you suggest for making the configuration information
globally accessible?

Thanks,
Adam

[1]  Here's the exception:

java.security.AccessControlException: access denied
(java.util.PropertyPermission cafetiere.tbl1.trainer.corpus write)
       at
java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(AccessControlContext.java:269)
       at
java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(AccessController.java:401)
       at
java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(SecurityManager.java:524)
       at java.lang.System.setProperty(System.java:654)
       at
uk.ac.nactem.util.CafetiereConfig.loadConfiguration(CafetiereConfig.java:102)

Line 102 is:
       System.setProperty(key, value);