diff --git a/lucene/build.xml b/lucene/build.xml
index e61d8d13eec..71dd7305ad9 100644
--- a/lucene/build.xml
+++ b/lucene/build.xml
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@
           -->
       <test-macro 
         dataDir="${backwards.dir}/core/src/test" 
-        tempDir="${build.dir.backwards}/test" 
+        workDir="${build.dir.backwards}/test" 
         junit.classpath="backwards.junit.classpath" 
         junit.output.dir="${junit.output.dir.backwards}" 
         tests.nightly="false"
diff --git a/lucene/common-build.xml b/lucene/common-build.xml
index 92ed0f4a287..215978aba7d 100644
--- a/lucene/common-build.xml
+++ b/lucene/common-build.xml
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
 
   <property name="tests.heapdump.args" value=""/>
 
-  <property name="tests.tempDir" location="${build.dir}/test"/>
+  <property name="tests.workDir" location="${build.dir}/test"/>
 
   <property name="tests.cachefile" location="${common.dir}/tools/junit4/cached-timehints.txt" />
   <property name="tests.cachefilehistory" value="20" />
@@ -760,7 +760,7 @@
     <attribute name="junit.output.dir" default="${junit.output.dir}"/>
     <attribute name="junit.classpath" default="junit.classpath"/>
     <attribute name="testsDir" default="${build.dir}/classes/test"/>
-    <attribute name="tempDir" default="${tests.tempDir}"/>
+    <attribute name="workDir" default="${tests.workDir}"/>
     <attribute name="threadNum" default="1"/>
     <attribute name="tests.nightly" default="${tests.nightly}"/>
     <attribute name="tests.weekly" default="${tests.weekly}"/>
@@ -817,11 +817,12 @@
             -->
         </junit4:pickfromlist>
         
-        <mkdir dir="@{tempDir}/temp" />
+        <!-- junit4 does not create this directory. TODO: is this a bug / inconsistency with dir="..."? -->
+        <mkdir dir="@{workDir}/temp" />
         
         <junit4:junit4
-            dir="@{tempDir}"
-            tempdir="@{tempDir}/temp"
+            dir="@{workDir}"
+            tempdir="@{workDir}/temp"
             maxmemory="${tests.heapsize}" 
             
             parallelism="@{threadNum}"
@@ -895,7 +896,7 @@
             <sysproperty key="java.io.tmpdir" value="." />
 
             <!-- Restrict access to certain Java features and install security manager: -->
-            <sysproperty key="junit4.tempDir" file="@{tempDir}/temp" />
+            <sysproperty key="junit4.tempDir" file="@{workDir}/temp" />
             <sysproperty key="clover.db.dir" file="${clover.db.dir}" />
             <sysproperty key="java.security.manager" value="org.apache.lucene.util.TestSecurityManager" />
             <sysproperty key="java.security.policy" file="${common.dir}/tools/junit4/tests.policy" />
@@ -2043,7 +2044,7 @@ The following arguments can be provided to ant to alter its behaviour and target
 
         <junit4:pickseed property="pitest.seed" />
 
-        <property name="pitest.sysprops" value="-Dlucene.version=${dev.version},-Dtest.seed=${pitest.seed},-Djava.security.manager=org.apache.lucene.util.TestSecurityManager,-Djava.security.policy=${common.dir}/tools/junit4/tests.policy,-Djava.io.tmpdir=${tests.tempDir},-Djunit4.childvm.cwd=${tests.tempDir},-Djunit4.tempDir=${tests.tempDir}" />
+        <property name="pitest.sysprops" value="-Dlucene.version=${dev.version},-Dtest.seed=${pitest.seed},-Djava.security.manager=org.apache.lucene.util.TestSecurityManager,-Djava.security.policy=${common.dir}/tools/junit4/tests.policy,-Djava.io.tmpdir=${tests.workDir},-Djunit4.childvm.cwd=${tests.workDir},-Djunit4.tempDir=${tests.workDir}" />
 
         <pitest
             classPath="pitest.classpath"