diff --git a/build-helpers/build-doom-profile.sh b/build-helpers/build-doom-profile.sh
index 288034a..7fd0ef1 100644
--- a/build-helpers/build-doom-profile.sh
+++ b/build-helpers/build-doom-profile.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-mkdir $out $out/loader $out/doomdir $out/profile $out/straight
+mkdir $out $out/loader $out/doomdir $out/profile $out/straight doomlocaldir home
 ln -s $doomDir/* $out/doomdir/
 # yasnippet logs an error at startup if snippets/ does not exist.
 if ! [[ -e $out/doomdir/snippets ]]; then
@@ -35,14 +35,14 @@ ln -sf $doomIntermediates/packages.el $out/doomdir/
 export DOOMDIR=$out/doomdir
 
 # DOOMLOCALDIR must be writable, Doom creates some subdirectories.
-export DOOMLOCALDIR=$(mktemp -d)
+export DOOMLOCALDIR="$PWD/doomlocaldir"
 if [[ -n "$profileName" ]]; then
     export DOOMPROFILELOADFILE=$out/loader/init.el
     $runtimeShell $doomSource/bin/doomscript $buildProfileLoader \
         ${noProfileHack:+-u} -n "$profileName" -b "$out"
 
     # With DOOMPROFILE set, doom-state-dir and friends are HOME-relative.
-    export HOME=$(mktemp -d)
+    export HOME="$PWD/home"
     export DOOMPROFILE="$profileName";
 fi
 $runtimeShell $doomSource/bin/doomscript $buildProfile \
diff --git a/build-helpers/doomscript.nix b/build-helpers/doomscript.nix
index 853402a..8133755 100644
--- a/build-helpers/doomscript.nix
+++ b/build-helpers/doomscript.nix
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ runCommandLocal name
   )
   # Set DOOMLOCALDIR somewhere harmless to stop Doom from trying to create it somewhere read-only.
   ''
-    mkdir $out
-    export DOOMLOCALDIR=$(mktemp -d)
+    mkdir $out doomlocaldir
+    export DOOMLOCALDIR="$PWD/doomlocaldir"
     $runtimeShell $doomSource/bin/doomscript $script ${scriptArgs}
   ''
diff --git a/elisp-packages.nix b/elisp-packages.nix
index b5453e8..f3f2120 100644
--- a/elisp-packages.nix
+++ b/elisp-packages.nix
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@
     # TODO: figure out why this is necessary (there may be a better
     # solution).
     preBuild = ''
-      export HOME=$(mktemp -d)
+      mkdir home
+      export HOME="$PWD/home"
     '';
     # TODO: set this properly (melpa2nix requires it).
     commit = "unset";
@@ -208,7 +209,8 @@
   # Make it byte-compile (see auctex)
   company-auctex = esuper.company-auctex.overrideAttrs (attrs: {
     preBuild = (attrs.preBuild or "") + ''
-      export HOME=$(mktemp -d)
+      mkdir home
+      export HOME="$PWD/home"
   '';
   });
   # Make it byte-compile.