diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index d683a12f..8c912622 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Again, the most checks can be performed by `tox` command, though some additional
   
         Notes:
             Very important note about this function
+            Probably multi-line
   
         Args:
             argument(str): an argument. This argument has
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ Again, the most checks can be performed by `tox` command, though some additional
         Attributes:
             CLAZZ_ATTRIBUTE(int): (class attribute) a brand-new class attribute
             instance_attribute(str): an instance attribute
+                with the long description
   
         Examples:
             Very informative class usage example, e.g.::
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index 4e4446d3..a705824c 100755
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@ cat <<EOF > "/etc/ahriman.ini.d/00-docker.ini"
 [repository]
 root = $AHRIMAN_REPOSITORY_ROOT
 
-[settings]
-database = $AHRIMAN_REPOSITORY_ROOT/ahriman.db
-
 [web]
 host = $AHRIMAN_HOST
 
diff --git a/docs/ahriman.core.report.rst b/docs/ahriman.core.report.rst
index 4738814d..c0f4d314 100644
--- a/docs/ahriman.core.report.rst
+++ b/docs/ahriman.core.report.rst
@@ -60,6 +60,14 @@ ahriman.core.report.report\_trigger module
    :no-undoc-members:
    :show-inheritance:
 
+ahriman.core.report.rss module
+------------------------------
+
+.. automodule:: ahriman.core.report.rss
+   :members:
+   :no-undoc-members:
+   :show-inheritance:
+
 ahriman.core.report.telegram module
 -----------------------------------
 
diff --git a/docs/configuration.rst b/docs/configuration.rst
index 81cbc843..4a80125d 100644
--- a/docs/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/configuration.rst
@@ -17,14 +17,33 @@ There are two variable types which have been added to default ones, they are pat
 
 Path values, except for casting to ``pathlib.Path`` type, will be also expanded to absolute paths relative to the configuration path. E.g. if path is set to ``ahriman.ini.d/logging.ini`` and root configuration path is ``/etc/ahriman.ini``, the value will be expanded to ``/etc/ahriman.ini.d/logging.ini``. In order to disable path expand, use the full path, e.g. ``/etc/ahriman.ini.d/logging.ini``.
 
-Configuration allows string interpolation from environment variables, e.g.:
+Configuration allows string interpolation from the same configuration file, e.g.:
+
+.. code-block:: ini
+
+   [section]
+   key = ${anoher_key}
+   another_key = value
+
+will read value for the ``section.key`` option from ``section.another_key``. In case if the cross-section reference is required, the ``${section:another_key}`` notation must be used. It also allows string interpolation from environment variables, e.g.:
 
 .. code-block:: ini
 
    [section]
    key = $SECRET
 
-will try to read value from ``SECRET`` environment variable. In case if the required environment variable wasn't found, it will keep original value (i.e. ``$SECRET`` in the example). Dollar sign can be set as ``$$``.
+will try to read value from ``SECRET`` environment variable. In case if the required environment variable wasn't found, it will keep original value (i.e. ``$SECRET`` in the example). Dollar sign can be set as ``$$``. All those interpolations will be applied in succession and - expected to be - recursively, e.g. the following configuration:
+
+.. code-block:: ini
+
+   [section1]
+   key = ${section2:key}
+
+   [section2]
+   key = ${home}
+   home = $HOME
+
+will eventually lead ``section1.key`` option to be set to the value of ``HOME`` environment variable (if available).
 
 There is also additional subcommand which will allow to validate configuration and print found errors. In order to do so, run ``service-config-validate`` subcommand, e.g.:
 
diff --git a/docs/faq/distributed.rst b/docs/faq/distributed.rst
index e4dadde2..06f70884 100644
--- a/docs/faq/distributed.rst
+++ b/docs/faq/distributed.rst
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ Worker nodes (applicable for all workers) config (``worker.ini``) as:
 
 Command to run worker nodes (considering there will be two workers, one is on ``8081`` port and other is on ``8082``):
 
-.. code-block:: ini
+.. code-block:: shell
 
    docker run --privileged -p 8081:8081 -e AHRIMAN_PORT=8081 -v worker.ini:/etc/ahriman.ini.d/overrides.ini arcan1s/ahriman:latest web
    docker run --privileged -p 8082:8082 -e AHRIMAN_PORT=8082 -v worker.ini:/etc/ahriman.ini.d/overrides.ini arcan1s/ahriman:latest web
diff --git a/docs/faq/reporting.rst b/docs/faq/reporting.rst
index 08745ffd..7a86dab8 100644
--- a/docs/faq/reporting.rst
+++ b/docs/faq/reporting.rst
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ How to generate index page for S3
       target = html
 
       [html]
-      path = /var/lib/ahriman/repository/aur-clone/x86_64/index.html
+      path = ${repository:root}/repository/aur-clone/x86_64/index.html
       link_path = http://example.com/aur-clone/x86_64
 
 After these steps ``index.html`` file will be automatically synced to S3.
diff --git a/package/share/ahriman/settings/ahriman.ini b/package/share/ahriman/settings/ahriman.ini
index bd815a8c..52d8acf3 100644
--- a/package/share/ahriman/settings/ahriman.ini
+++ b/package/share/ahriman/settings/ahriman.ini
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ logging = ahriman.ini.d/logging.ini
 ; Perform database migrations on the application start. Do not touch this option unless you know what are you doing.
 ;apply_migrations = yes
 ; Path to the application SQLite database.
-database = /var/lib/ahriman/ahriman.db
+database = ${repository:root}/ahriman.db
 
 [alpm]
 ; Path to pacman system database cache.
@@ -119,9 +119,9 @@ host = 127.0.0.1
 ; Disable status (e.g. package status, logs, etc) endpoints. Useful for build only modes.
 ;service_only = no
 ; Path to directory with static files.
-static_path = /usr/share/ahriman/templates/static
+static_path = ${templates}/static
 ; List of directories with templates.
-templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
+templates = ${prefix}/share/ahriman/templates
 ; Path to unix socket. If none set, unix socket will be disabled.
 ;unix_socket =
 ; Allow unix socket to be world readable.
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ template = email-index.jinja2
 ; Template name to be used for full packages list generation (same as HTML report).
 ;template_full =
 ; List of directories with templates.
-templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
+templates = ${prefix}/share/ahriman/templates
 ; SMTP user.
 ;user =
 
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
 ; Template name to be used.
 template = repo-index.jinja2
 ; List of directories with templates.
-templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
+templates = ${prefix}/share/ahriman/templates
 
 ; Remote service callback trigger configuration sample.
 [remote-call]
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
 ; Template name to be used.
 template = rss.jinja2
 ; List of directories with templates.
-templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
+templates = ${prefix}/share/ahriman/templates
 
 ; Telegram reporting trigger configuration sample.
 [telegram]
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ template = telegram-index.jinja2
 ; Telegram specific template mode, one of MarkdownV2, HTML or Markdown.
 ;template_type = HTML
 ; List of directories with templates.
-templates = /usr/share/ahriman/templates
+templates = ${prefix}/share/ahriman/templates
 ; HTTP request timeout in seconds.
 ;timeout = 30
 
diff --git a/recipes/index/service.ini b/recipes/index/service.ini
index 8972e4c3..80e3f016 100644
--- a/recipes/index/service.ini
+++ b/recipes/index/service.ini
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 target = html
 
 [html]
-path = /var/lib/ahriman/ahriman/repository/ahriman-demo/x86_64/index.html
+path = ${repository:root}/repository/ahriman-demo/x86_64/index.html
 link_path = http://localhost:8080/repo/ahriman-demo/x86_64
diff --git a/src/ahriman/application/application/application.py b/src/ahriman/application/application/application.py
index 11f1d758..70639588 100644
--- a/src/ahriman/application/application/application.py
+++ b/src/ahriman/application/application/application.py
@@ -120,8 +120,7 @@ class Application(ApplicationPackages, ApplicationRepository):
             process_dependencies(bool): if no set, dependencies will not be processed
 
         Returns:
-            list[Package]: updated packages list. Packager for dependencies will be copied from
-            original package
+            list[Package]: updated packages list. Packager for dependencies will be copied from the original package
 
         Examples:
             In the most cases, in order to avoid build failure, it is required to add missing packages, which can be
diff --git a/src/ahriman/core/build_tools/package_archive.py b/src/ahriman/core/build_tools/package_archive.py
index 006724d5..63ee3919 100644
--- a/src/ahriman/core/build_tools/package_archive.py
+++ b/src/ahriman/core/build_tools/package_archive.py
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ class PackageArchive:
         extract list of the installed packages and their content
 
         Returns:
-            dict[str, FilesystemPackage]; map of package name to list of directories and files contained
+            dict[str, FilesystemPackage]: map of package name to list of directories and files contained
             by this package
         """
         result = {}
diff --git a/src/ahriman/core/configuration/shell_interpolator.py b/src/ahriman/core/configuration/shell_interpolator.py
index 2c7b8fb5..c7614195 100644
--- a/src/ahriman/core/configuration/shell_interpolator.py
+++ b/src/ahriman/core/configuration/shell_interpolator.py
@@ -19,21 +19,93 @@
 #
 import configparser
 import os
+import sys
 
-from collections.abc import Mapping, MutableMapping
+from collections.abc import Generator, Mapping, MutableMapping
 from string import Template
 
 
+class ExtendedTemplate(Template):
+    """
+    extension to the default :class:`Template` class, which also enabled braces regex to lookup in sections
+
+    Attributes:
+        braceidpattern(str): regular expression to match a colon inside braces
+    """
+
+    braceidpattern = r"(?a:[_a-z0-9][_a-z0-9:]*)"
+
+
 class ShellInterpolator(configparser.Interpolation):
     """
     custom string interpolator, because we cannot use defaults argument due to config validation
     """
 
+    DATA_LINK_ESCAPE = "\x10"
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _extract_variables(parser: MutableMapping[str, Mapping[str, str]], value: str,
+                           defaults: Mapping[str, str]) -> Generator[tuple[str, str], None, None]:
+        """
+        extract keys and values (if available) from the configuration. In case if a key is not available, it will be
+        silently skipped from the result
+
+        Args:
+            parser(MutableMapping[str, Mapping[str, str]]): option parser
+            value(str): source (not-converted) value
+            defaults(Mapping[str, str]): default values
+
+        Yields:
+            tuple[str, str]: variable name used for substitution and its value
+        """
+        def identifiers() -> Generator[tuple[str | None, str], None, None]:
+            # extract all found identifiers and parse them
+            for identifier in ExtendedTemplate(value).get_identifiers():
+                match identifier.split(":"):
+                    case [lookup_option]:  # single option from the same section
+                        yield None, lookup_option
+                    case [lookup_section, lookup_option]:  # reference to another section
+                        yield lookup_section, lookup_option
+
+        for section, option in identifiers():
+            # key to be substituted
+            key = f"{section}:{option}" if section else option
+
+            if section is not None:  # foreign section case
+                if section not in parser:
+                    continue  # section was not found, silently skip it
+                values = parser[section]
+            else:  # same section
+                values = defaults
+
+            if (raw := values.get(option)) is not None:
+                yield key, raw
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def environment() -> dict[str, str]:
+        """
+        extract environment variables
+
+        Returns:
+            dict[str, str]: environment variables and some custom variables
+        """
+        return os.environ | {
+            "prefix": sys.prefix,
+        }
+
     def before_get(self, parser: MutableMapping[str, Mapping[str, str]], section: str, option: str, value: str,
                    defaults: Mapping[str, str]) -> str:
         """
         interpolate option value
 
+        Notes:
+            This method is using :class:`string.Template` class in order to render both cross-references and
+            environment variables, because it seems that it is the most legit way to handle it. In addition,
+            we are using shell-like variables in some cases (see :attr:`alpm.mirror` option),  thus we would like
+            to keep them alive.
+
+            First this method resolves substitution from the configuration and then renders environment variables
+
         Args:
             parser(MutableMapping[str, Mapping[str, str]]): option parser
             section(str): section name
@@ -44,8 +116,15 @@ class ShellInterpolator(configparser.Interpolation):
         Returns:
             str: substituted value
         """
-        # At the moment it seems that it is the most legit way to handle environment variables
-        # Template behaviour is literally the same as shell
-        # In addition, we are using shell-like variables in some cases (see :attr:`alpm.mirror` option),
-        # thus we would like to keep them alive
-        return Template(value).safe_substitute(os.environ)
+        # because any substitution effectively replace escaped $ ($$) in result, we have to escape it manually
+        escaped = value.replace("$$", self.DATA_LINK_ESCAPE)
+
+        # resolve internal references
+        variables = dict(self._extract_variables(parser, value, defaults))
+        internal = ExtendedTemplate(escaped).safe_substitute(variables)
+
+        # resolve enriched environment variables by using default Template class
+        environment = Template(internal).safe_substitute(self.environment())
+
+        # replace escaped values back
+        return environment.replace(self.DATA_LINK_ESCAPE, "$")
diff --git a/src/ahriman/models/package.py b/src/ahriman/models/package.py
index 6016099f..9f988aba 100644
--- a/src/ahriman/models/package.py
+++ b/src/ahriman/models/package.py
@@ -161,10 +161,10 @@ class Package(LazyLogging):
             bool: ``True`` in case if package base looks like VCS package and ``False`` otherwise
         """
         return self.base.endswith("-bzr") \
-            or self.base.endswith("-csv")\
-            or self.base.endswith("-darcs")\
-            or self.base.endswith("-git")\
-            or self.base.endswith("-hg")\
+            or self.base.endswith("-csv") \
+            or self.base.endswith("-darcs") \
+            or self.base.endswith("-git") \
+            or self.base.endswith("-hg") \
             or self.base.endswith("-svn")
 
     @property
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ class Package(LazyLogging):
 
         Yields:
             Path: list of paths of files which belong to the package and distributed together with this tarball.
-                All paths are relative to the ``path``
+            All paths are relative to the ``path``
 
         Raises:
             PackageInfoError: if there are parsing errors
@@ -504,8 +504,8 @@ class Package(LazyLogging):
             timestamp(float | int): timestamp to check build date against
 
         Returns:
-            bool: ``True`` in case if package was built after the specified date and ``False`` otherwise. In case if build date
-            is not set by any of packages, it returns False
+            bool: ``True`` in case if package was built after the specified date and ``False`` otherwise.
+            In case if build date is not set by any of packages, it returns False
         """
         return any(
             package.build_date > timestamp
@@ -550,8 +550,8 @@ class Package(LazyLogging):
 
         Returns:
             str | None: new generated package release version if any. In case if the release contains dot (e.g. 1.2),
-                the minor part will be incremented by 1. If the release does not contain major.minor notation, the minor
-                version equals to 1 will be appended
+            the minor part will be incremented by 1. If the release does not contain major.minor notation, the minor
+            version equals to 1 will be appended
         """
         if local_version is None:
             return None  # local version not found, keep upstream pkgrel
diff --git a/src/ahriman/models/waiter.py b/src/ahriman/models/waiter.py
index 395ace94..c9917324 100644
--- a/src/ahriman/models/waiter.py
+++ b/src/ahriman/models/waiter.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ class Waiter:
     Attributes:
         interval(float): interval in seconds between checks
         wait_timeout(float): timeout in seconds to wait for. Negative value will result in immediate exit. Zero value
-    means infinite timeout
+            means infinite timeout
     """
 
     wait_timeout: float
diff --git a/tests/ahriman/core/configuration/test_shell_interpolator.py b/tests/ahriman/core/configuration/test_shell_interpolator.py
index 92029a3d..bcacb712 100644
--- a/tests/ahriman/core/configuration/test_shell_interpolator.py
+++ b/tests/ahriman/core/configuration/test_shell_interpolator.py
@@ -1,6 +1,65 @@
 import os
 
-from ahriman.core.configuration.shell_interpolator import ShellInterpolator
+from ahriman.core.configuration import Configuration
+from ahriman.core.configuration.shell_interpolator import ExtendedTemplate, ShellInterpolator
+
+
+def _parser() -> dict[str, dict[str, str]]:
+    """
+    parser mock
+
+    Returns:
+        dict[str, dict[str, str]]: options to be used as configparser mock
+    """
+    return {
+        "section1": {
+            "home": "$HOME",
+            "key1": "value1",
+            "key4": "${home}",
+        },
+        "section2": {
+            "key2": "value2",
+        },
+        "section3": {
+            "key3": "${section1:home}",
+            "key5": "${section1:key4}",
+        },
+    }
+
+
+def test_extended_template() -> None:
+    """
+    must match colons in braces
+    """
+    assert ExtendedTemplate("$key:value").get_identifiers() == ["key"]
+    assert ExtendedTemplate("${key:value}").get_identifiers() == ["key:value"]
+
+
+def test_extract_variables() -> None:
+    """
+    must extract variables list
+    """
+    parser = _parser()
+
+    assert dict(ShellInterpolator._extract_variables(parser, "${key1}", parser["section1"])) == {
+        "key1": "value1",
+    }
+    assert not dict(ShellInterpolator._extract_variables(parser, "${key2}", parser["section1"]))
+
+    assert dict(ShellInterpolator._extract_variables(parser, "${section2:key2}", parser["section1"])) == {
+        "section2:key2": "value2",
+    }
+    assert not dict(ShellInterpolator._extract_variables(parser, "${section2:key1}", parser["section1"]))
+
+    assert not dict(ShellInterpolator._extract_variables(parser, "${section4:key1}", parser["section1"]))
+
+
+def test_environment() -> None:
+    """
+    must extend environment variables
+    """
+    assert "HOME" in ShellInterpolator.environment()
+    assert "prefix" in ShellInterpolator.environment()
 
 
 def test_before_get() -> None:
@@ -8,8 +67,35 @@ def test_before_get() -> None:
     must correctly extract environment variables
     """
     interpolator = ShellInterpolator()
-
     assert interpolator.before_get({}, "", "", "value", {}) == "value"
     assert interpolator.before_get({}, "", "", "$value", {}) == "$value"
     assert interpolator.before_get({}, "", "", "$HOME", {}) == os.environ["HOME"]
+
+
+def test_before_get_escaped() -> None:
+    """
+    must correctly read escaped variables
+    """
+    interpolator = ShellInterpolator()
     assert interpolator.before_get({}, "", "", "$$HOME", {}) == "$HOME"
+
+
+def test_before_get_reference() -> None:
+    """
+    must correctly extract environment variables after resolving cross-reference
+    """
+    interpolator = ShellInterpolator()
+    assert interpolator.before_get(_parser(), "", "", "${section1:home}", {}) == os.environ["HOME"]
+
+
+def test_before_get_reference_recursive(configuration: Configuration) -> None:
+    """
+    must correctly extract environment variables after resolving cross-reference recursively
+    """
+    interpolator = ShellInterpolator()
+    for section, items in _parser().items():
+        for option, value in items.items():
+            configuration.set_option(section, option, value)
+
+    assert interpolator.before_get(configuration, "", "", "${section1:home}", {}) == os.environ["HOME"]
+    assert interpolator.before_get(configuration, "", "", "${section3:key5}", {}) == os.environ["HOME"]