diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-tensorflow/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-tensorflow/package.py
index d43f26e96bd..e5dd80401d0 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-tensorflow/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-tensorflow/package.py
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ def setup_build_environment(self, env):
         #       ])
         #       to not be nfs. This is only valid for Linux and we'd like to
         #       stay at least also OSX compatible
-        tmp_path = tempfile.mkdtemp(dir='/tmp', prefix='spack')
+        tmp_path = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='spack')
         env.set('TEST_TMPDIR', tmp_path)
 
         env.set('TF_SYSTEM_LIBS', 'com_google_protobuf')