The shelf directory is used to store the Web service binding files that are associated with WEBSERVICE resources. Each WEBSERVICE resource is, in turn, associated with a PIPELINE. The shelf directory is managed by the PIPELINE resource and you should not modify its contents directly. Several PIPELINES can use the same shelf directory, as CICS® ensures a unique directory structure beneath the shelf directory for each PIPELINE.
The pickup directory is the directory that contains the Web service binding files associated with a PIPELINE. When a PIPELINE is installed, or in response to a PERFORM PIPELINE SCAN command, information in the binding files is used to dynamically create the WEBSERVICE and URIMAP definitions associated with the PIPELINE.
The example application uses /var/cicsts for the shelf directory.
A pipeline will read in an XML pipeline configuration file at install time. It is therefore also useful to define a directory in which to store these.