diff --git a/tmux.1 b/tmux.1
index ef847bf7..f5d7fe5c 100644
--- a/tmux.1
+++ b/tmux.1
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\" $Id: tmux.1,v 1.292 2011-01-21 23:45:34 tcunha Exp $
+.\" $Id: tmux.1,v 1.293 2011-01-21 23:46:50 tcunha Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2007 Nicholas Marriott <nicm@users.sourceforge.net>
 .\"
@@ -134,7 +134,10 @@ will report an error and exit without executing further commands.
 .It Fl L Ar socket-name
 .Nm
 stores the server socket in a directory under
-.Pa /tmp ;
+.Pa /tmp
+(or
+.Ev TMPDIR
+if set);
 the default socket is named
 .Em default .
 This option allows a different socket name to be specified, allowing several
diff --git a/tmux.c b/tmux.c
index 83b213d2..5a2fb01b 100644
--- a/tmux.c
+++ b/tmux.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* $Id: tmux.c,v 1.234 2011-01-21 23:44:13 tcunha Exp $ */
+/* $Id: tmux.c,v 1.235 2011-01-21 23:46:50 tcunha Exp $ */
 
 /*
  * Copyright (c) 2007 Nicholas Marriott <nicm@users.sourceforge.net>
@@ -172,12 +172,15 @@ parseenvironment(void)
 char *
 makesocketpath(const char *label)
 {
-	char		base[MAXPATHLEN], *path;
+	char		base[MAXPATHLEN], *path, *s;
 	struct stat	sb;
 	u_int		uid;
 
 	uid = getuid();
-	xsnprintf(base, MAXPATHLEN, "%s/tmux-%d", _PATH_TMP, uid);
+	if ((s = getenv("TMPDIR")) == NULL || *s == '\0')
+		xsnprintf(base, sizeof base, "%s/tmux-%u", _PATH_TMP, uid);
+	else
+		xsnprintf(base, sizeof base, "%s/tmux-%u", s, uid);
 
 	if (mkdir(base, S_IRWXU) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
 		return (NULL);