diff --git a/settings/pkg/command/root.go b/settings/pkg/command/root.go
index e952d28188..be06943a9a 100644
--- a/settings/pkg/command/root.go
+++ b/settings/pkg/command/root.go
@@ -69,15 +69,9 @@ func ParseConfig(c *cli.Context, cfg *config.Config) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-
-	// load all env variables relevant to the config in the current context.
 	conf.LoadOSEnv(config.GetEnv(), false)
-
-	if err = cfg.UnmapEnv(conf); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
+	bindings := config.StructMappings(cfg)
+	return ociscfg.BindEnv(conf, bindings)
 }
 
 // SutureService allows for the settings command to be embedded and supervised by a suture supervisor tree.
@@ -87,11 +81,7 @@ type SutureService struct {
 
 // NewSutureService creates a new settings.SutureService
 func NewSutureService(cfg *ociscfg.Config) suture.Service {
-	inheritLogging(cfg)
-	if cfg.Mode == 0 {
-		cfg.Settings.Supervised = true
-	}
-	cfg.Settings.Log.File = cfg.Log.File
+	cfg.Settings.Log = cfg.Log
 	return SutureService{
 		cfg: cfg.Settings,
 	}
@@ -105,13 +95,3 @@ func (s SutureService) Serve(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 	return nil
 }
-
-// inheritLogging is a poor man's global logging state tip-toeing around circular dependencies. It sets the logging
-// of the service to whatever is in the higher config (in this case coming from ocis.yaml) and sets them as defaults,
-// being overwritten when the extension parses its config file / env variables.
-func inheritLogging(cfg *ociscfg.Config) {
-	cfg.Settings.Log.File = cfg.Log.File
-	cfg.Settings.Log.Color = cfg.Log.Color
-	cfg.Settings.Log.Pretty = cfg.Log.Pretty
-	cfg.Settings.Log.Level = cfg.Log.Level
-}
diff --git a/settings/pkg/command/server.go b/settings/pkg/command/server.go
index 894b159ff7..e8215fe7d2 100644
--- a/settings/pkg/command/server.go
+++ b/settings/pkg/command/server.go
@@ -25,11 +25,7 @@ func Server(cfg *config.Config) *cli.Command {
 				cfg.HTTP.Root = strings.TrimSuffix(cfg.HTTP.Root, "/")
 			}
 
-			if err := ParseConfig(ctx, cfg); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-			return nil
+			return ParseConfig(ctx, cfg)
 		},
 		Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {
 			logger := NewLogger(cfg)
diff --git a/settings/pkg/config/config.go b/settings/pkg/config/config.go
index b6d3f29e7d..62da7e7781 100644
--- a/settings/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/settings/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -2,23 +2,13 @@ package config
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"fmt"
 	"path"
-	"reflect"
 
-	gofig "github.com/gookit/config/v2"
+	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/ocis-pkg/shared"
 
 	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/ocis-pkg/config/defaults"
 )
 
-// Log defines the available logging configuration.
-type Log struct {
-	Level  string
-	Pretty bool
-	Color  bool
-	File   string
-}
-
 // Debug defines the available debug configuration.
 type Debug struct {
 	Addr   string
@@ -80,7 +70,7 @@ type TokenManager struct {
 type Config struct {
 	File         string
 	Service      Service
-	Log          Log
+	Log          shared.Log
 	Debug        Debug
 	HTTP         HTTP
 	GRPC         GRPC
@@ -100,7 +90,7 @@ func New() *Config {
 // DefaultConfig provides sane bootstrapping defaults.
 func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 	return &Config{
-		Log: Log{},
+		Log: shared.Log{},
 		Service: Service{
 			Name:     "settings",
 			DataPath: path.Join(defaults.BaseDataPath(), "settings"),
@@ -153,38 +143,3 @@ func GetEnv() []string {
 
 	return r
 }
-
-// UnmapEnv loads values from the gooconf.Config argument and sets them in the expected destination.
-func (c *Config) UnmapEnv(gooconf *gofig.Config) error {
-	vals := structMappings(c)
-	for i := range vals {
-		for j := range vals[i].EnvVars {
-			// we need to guard against v != "" because this is the condition that checks that the value is set from the environment.
-			// the `ok` guard is not enough, apparently.
-			if v, ok := gooconf.GetValue(vals[i].EnvVars[j]); ok && v != "" {
-
-				// get the destination type from destination
-				switch reflect.ValueOf(vals[i].Destination).Type().String() {
-				case "*bool":
-					r := gooconf.Bool(vals[i].EnvVars[j])
-					*vals[i].Destination.(*bool) = r
-				case "*string":
-					r := gooconf.String(vals[i].EnvVars[j])
-					*vals[i].Destination.(*string) = r
-				case "*int":
-					r := gooconf.Int(vals[i].EnvVars[j])
-					*vals[i].Destination.(*int) = r
-				case "*float64":
-					// defaults to float64
-					r := gooconf.Float(vals[i].EnvVars[j])
-					*vals[i].Destination.(*float64) = r
-				default:
-					// it is unlikely we will ever get here. Let this serve more as a runtime check for when debugging.
-					return fmt.Errorf("invalid type for env var: `%v`", vals[i].EnvVars[j])
-				}
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/settings/pkg/config/env.go b/settings/pkg/config/mappings.go
similarity index 83%
rename from settings/pkg/config/env.go
rename to settings/pkg/config/mappings.go
index 0160dd8737..f37e05b848 100644
--- a/settings/pkg/config/env.go
+++ b/settings/pkg/config/mappings.go
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
 package config
 
-type mapping struct {
-	EnvVars     []string    // name of the EnvVars var.
-	Destination interface{} // memory address of the original config value to modify.
+import "github.com/owncloud/ocis/ocis-pkg/shared"
+
+// StructMappings binds a set of environment variables to a destination on cfg. Iterating over this set and editing the
+// Destination value of a binding will alter the original value, as it is a pointer to its memory address. This lets
+// us propagate changes easier.
+func StructMappings(cfg *Config) []shared.EnvBinding {
+	return structMappings(cfg)
 }
 
 // structMappings binds a set of environment variables to a destination on cfg.
-func structMappings(cfg *Config) []mapping {
-	return []mapping{
+func structMappings(cfg *Config) []shared.EnvBinding {
+	return []shared.EnvBinding{
 		{
 			EnvVars:     []string{"SETTINGS_LOG_LEVEL", "OCIS_LOG_LEVEL"},
 			Destination: &cfg.Log.Level,