diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a070e1c..f93e67f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ RUN pip install -r "requirements.txt"
 # install saxon
 # Debians version of saxon is too old. We need to download it "manually" :-P
 WORKDIR ${INSTALL_DIR}
-RUN wget 'https://sourceforge.net/projects/saxon/files/Saxon-HE/9.6/SaxonHE9-6-0-10J.zip'
-RUN unzip -d "$UTILS_BIN_DIR" "SaxonHE9-6-0-10J.zip"
+RUN wget 'https://sourceforge.net/projects/saxon/files/Saxon-HE/9.8/SaxonHE9-8-0-10J.zip'
+RUN unzip -d "$UTILS_BIN_DIR" "SaxonHE9-8-0-10J.zip"
 WORKDIR ${UTILS_BIN_DIR}
 RUN echo '#!/bin/bash' > $UTILS_BIN_DIR/saxon
 RUN echo 'java -jar $UTILS_BIN_DIR/saxon9he.jar "$@"' >> $UTILS_BIN_DIR/saxon
diff --git a/src/tei2html.py b/src/tei2html.py
index 8ce3bdd..10ce0f1 100755
--- a/src/tei2html.py
+++ b/src/tei2html.py
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 import logging
 import argparse
 from pathlib import Path
+from os import environ, mkdir
+from shutil import rmtree
 
 # things to be done
 # assign ids top to bottom for the following elements:
@@ -22,6 +24,18 @@
 BASE_DIR = Path( __file__ ).resolve().parent
 SCRIPT_NAME = Path( __file__).stem
 
+DEFAULT_INPUT_DIR = \
+    Path(environ['INPUT_DIR'] if 'INPUT_DIR' in environ else './input')
+
+DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR = \
+    Path(environ['OUTPUT_DIR'] if 'OUTPUT_DIR' in environ else './output')
+
+DEFAULT_DEPENDENCIES_DIR = \
+    Path(environ['DEPENDENCIES_DIR'] if 'DEPENDENCIES_DIR' in environ else './dependencies')
+
+EOA_SCRIPTS_DIR = \
+    Path(environ['EOA_SCRIPTS_DIR'])
+
 def check_executables():
     check_executable( "saxon" )
 
@@ -35,8 +49,9 @@ def check_executables():
             help="Name of config file"
     )
     parser.add_argument(
-            "-l", "--log-file",
-            # default = Path("logs", SCRIPT_NAME).with_suffix(".log"),
+            "-l", "--log-dir",
+            default = DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR / "logs",
+            type = Path,
             help="logfile"
     )
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -46,8 +61,9 @@ def check_executables():
     )
     parser.add_argument(
             "--root-dir",
-            default = Path.cwd() / "output",
-            help="internal html links on the page will use this location as a prefix"
+            default = DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR / "html_from_tei",
+            type = Path,
+            help=""
     )
     parser.add_argument(
             "-p", "--param",
@@ -65,48 +81,73 @@ def check_executables():
     parser.add_argument(
             "-f", "--filename",
             required = True,
+            type = Path,
             help="Name of main EOA-TEI file"
     )
     parser.add_argument(
-            "-o", "--output-file",
-            help="make saxon redirect the templates output here"
+            "-o", "--output-dir",
+            type = Path,
+            default = DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR / "html_from_tei",
+            help="the main stylesheet 'tei2html.xsl' will write html files here"
     )
-
-    '''
-    TODO: support output directory
     parser.add_argument(
-            "-o", "--output-dir",
-            default = ".",
-            help="where to dump all output files"
+            "-!", "--overwrite",
+            action = "store_true",
+            default = False,
+            help="overwrite files at OUTPUT_DIR"
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+            "--output-file",
+            type = Path,
+            help="in case of calling a classical stylesheet with output, redirect here"
     )
-    '''
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     CONFIG_FILE = args.config
 
-    print("The configfile is '%s'." % CONFIG_FILE)
-    log_file = args.log_file
-    if log_file is None:
-        log_file = (Path("logs") / args.xsl).with_suffix(".log")
-    print("The logfile is '%s'." % log_file)
+    log_dir = args.log_dir
 
     CONFIG = load_config(
             CONFIG_FILE,
             args.log_level,
-            log_file,
+            (log_dir / SCRIPT_NAME) . with_suffix( ".log" ),
     )
 
     check_executables()
 
-    print( "params: " + str(args.param) )
+    print( "xslt params: " + str(args.param) )
+
+    input_file = args.filename
+    output_dir = args.output_dir
+
+    if not input_file.is_file():
+        import errno
+        raise( Exception(
+            f"not a valid input file: {input_file}"
+        ) )
+
+    if output_dir.exists():
+        if args.overwrite:
+            rmtree( output_dir )
+        else:
+            raise( Exception( f"output directory already existing: '{output_dir}'!" ) )
+    if not output_dir.exists():
+        mkdir( output_dir )
 
     run_xslt(
-            input_file = Path( args.filename ),
+            input_file = input_file,
             xslt_file = BASE_DIR / "tei2html" / args.xsl,
-            output_file = Path( args.output_file ),
             params =
-                [ f"domain={root_dir}" ] ++ args.param,
+                [
+                    f"domain={args.root_dir}",
+                    f"output_dir={output_dir}",
+                ] +
+                args.param,
+            output_file = args.output_file,
+            exec_command_args = {
+                'output_to' : ToFile( log_dir / SCRIPT_NAME / "saxon.log" )
+            },
     )
 
 # finis