diff --git a/gitk b/gitk
index 41e5071c4bd..9237830328d 100755
--- a/gitk
+++ b/gitk
@@ -3504,7 +3504,9 @@ proc gitknewtmpdir {} {
 	    set tmpdir $gitdir
 	}
 	set gitktmpformat [file join $tmpdir ".gitk-tmp.XXXXXX"]
-	set gitktmpdir [exec mktemp -d $gitktmpformat]
+	if {[catch {set gitktmpdir [exec mktemp -d $gitktmpformat]}]} {
+	    set gitktmpdir [file join $gitdir [format ".gitk-tmp.%s" [pid]]]
+	}
 	if {[catch {file mkdir $gitktmpdir} err]} {
 	    error_popup "[mc "Error creating temporary directory %s:" $gitktmpdir] $err"
 	    unset gitktmpdir