diff --git a/spec/mspec/lib/mspec/helpers/tmp.rb b/spec/mspec/lib/mspec/helpers/tmp.rb
index 5062991d63..b2a38ee983 100644
--- a/spec/mspec/lib/mspec/helpers/tmp.rb
+++ b/spec/mspec/lib/mspec/helpers/tmp.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,14 @@
 # directory is empty when the process exits.
 
 SPEC_TEMP_DIR_PID = Process.pid
-SPEC_TEMP_DIR = File.expand_path(ENV["SPEC_TEMP_DIR"] || "rubyspec_temp/#{SPEC_TEMP_DIR_PID}")
+
+if spec_temp_dir = ENV["SPEC_TEMP_DIR"]
+  spec_temp_dir = File.realdirpath(spec_temp_dir)
+else
+  spec_temp_dir = "#{File.realpath(Dir.pwd)}/rubyspec_temp/#{SPEC_TEMP_DIR_PID}"
+end
+SPEC_TEMP_DIR = spec_temp_dir
+
 SPEC_TEMP_UNIQUIFIER = "0"
 
 at_exit do
diff --git a/spec/mspec/spec/fixtures/my_ruby b/spec/mspec/spec/fixtures/my_ruby
index 4d552f27fb..eeda3eeeec 100755
--- a/spec/mspec/spec/fixtures/my_ruby
+++ b/spec/mspec/spec/fixtures/my_ruby
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 echo $RUBY_EXE
-ruby "$@"
+exec ruby "$@"