diff --git a/main-command/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/Server.scala b/main-command/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/Server.scala
index f45019fb5..05b86c48a 100644
--- a/main-command/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/Server.scala
+++ b/main-command/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/Server.scala
@@ -60,9 +60,16 @@ private[sbt] object Server {
                 // Named pipe already has an exclusive lock.
                 addServerError(new Win32NamedPipeServerSocket(pipeName))
               case ConnectionType.Local =>
-                tryClient(new UnixDomainSocket(socketfile.getAbsolutePath))
+                val maxSocketLength = new UnixDomainSocketLibrary.SockaddrUn().sunPath.length - 1
+                val path = socketfile.getAbsolutePath
+                if (path.length > maxSocketLength)
+                  sys.error("socket file absolute path too long; " +
+                      "either switch to another connection type " +
+                      "or define a short \"SBT_GLOBAL_SERVER_DIR\" value. " +
+                      s"Current path: ${path}")
+                tryClient(new UnixDomainSocket(path))
                 prepareSocketfile()
-                addServerError(new UnixDomainServerSocket(socketfile.getAbsolutePath))
+                addServerError(new UnixDomainServerSocket(path))
               case ConnectionType.Tcp =>
                 tryClient(new Socket(InetAddress.getByName(host), port))
                 addServerError(new ServerSocket(port, 50, InetAddress.getByName(host)))
diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/CommandExchange.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/CommandExchange.scala
index 69cb89477..873946340 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/CommandExchange.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/CommandExchange.scala
@@ -139,8 +139,10 @@ private[sbt] final class CommandExchange {
     if (server.isEmpty && firstInstance.get) {
       val portfile = s.baseDir / "project" / "target" / "active.json"
       val h = Hash.halfHashString(IO.toURI(portfile).toString)
-      val tokenfile = BuildPaths.getGlobalBase(s) / "server" / h / "token.json"
-      val socketfile = BuildPaths.getGlobalBase(s) / "server" / h / "sock"
+      val serverDir =
+        sys.env get "SBT_GLOBAL_SERVER_DIR" map file getOrElse BuildPaths.getGlobalBase(s) / "server"
+      val tokenfile = serverDir / h / "token.json"
+      val socketfile = serverDir / h / "sock"
       val pipeName = "sbt-server-" + h
       val connection = ServerConnection(
         connectionType,