In src/main/java/org/rioproject/cybernode/Environment.java inside Environment.setupDefaultEnvironment() there is an unnecessary check for write acces to rioHomeDirectory+"logs".
From what I have checked around the source, a failure to create a file inside the logDir is not a fatal error, so a writable logDir should not be mandatory either?

With this check disabled, it's easier to make a read-only export of the rio framework (which eases deployment of nodes, since you need the actual files only on the nfs server).