diff --git a/test/test-lib-common.sh b/test/test-lib-common.sh
index 5133917d..5e53348a 100644
--- a/test/test-lib-common.sh
+++ b/test/test-lib-common.sh
@@ -329,7 +329,6 @@ mkdir -p "${HOME}"
 MAIL_DIR="${TMP_DIRECTORY}/mail"
 export NOTMUCH_CONFIG="${TMP_DIRECTORY}/notmuch-config"
 
-mkdir -p "${test}"
 mkdir -p "${MAIL_DIR}"
 
 cat <<EOF >"${NOTMUCH_CONFIG}"
diff --git a/test/test-lib.sh b/test/test-lib.sh
index e75f93b3..4619c327 100644
--- a/test/test-lib.sh
+++ b/test/test-lib.sh
@@ -1083,7 +1083,7 @@ emacs_generate_script
 
 # Use -P to resolve symlinks in our working directory so that the cwd
 # in subprocesses like git equals our $PWD (for pathname comparisons).
-cd -P "$test" || error "Cannot set up test environment"
+cd -P "$TMP_DIRECTORY" || error "Cannot set up test environment"
 
 if test "$verbose" = "t"
 then