diff --git a/cmd/podman/main.go b/cmd/podman/main.go
index 7a015b300f..6365381312 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/main.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/main.go
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ func main() {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Hard code TMPDIR functions to use /var/tmp, if user did not override
+	if _, ok := os.LookupEnv("TMPDIR"); !ok {
+		os.Setenv("TMPDIR", "/var/tmp")
+	}
+
 	cfg := registry.PodmanConfig()
 	for _, c := range registry.Commands {
 		for _, m := range c.Mode {