--- libguile/guile-snarf.in
+++ libguile/guile-snarf.in
@@ -69,8 +69,7 @@
 
 # set vars and handler -- handle CPP override
 cpp_ok_p=false
-tempdir="/tmp/snarf.$$"
-(umask 077 && mkdir $tempdir) || exit 1
+tempdir=$(mktemp -d -q "/tmp/snarf.XXXXXX") || { echo >&2 "guile-snarf: can not create temporary file"; exit 1; }
 temp="$tempdir/tmp"
 if [ x"$CPP" = x ] ; then cpp="@CPP@" ; else cpp="$CPP" ; fi