diff --git a/tests/tcg/multiarch/linux-test.c b/tests/tcg/multiarch/linux-test.c
index 6f2c531474..e80eccc0ce 100644
--- a/tests/tcg/multiarch/linux-test.c
+++ b/tests/tcg/multiarch/linux-test.c
@@ -40,9 +40,8 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <setjmp.h>
 #include <sys/shm.h>
+#include <assert.h>
 
-#define TESTPATH "/tmp/linux-test.tmp"
-#define TESTPORT 7654
 #define STACK_SIZE 16384
 
 static void error1(const char *filename, int line, const char *fmt, ...)
@@ -85,19 +84,16 @@ static void test_file(void)
     struct iovec vecs[2];
     DIR *dir;
     struct dirent *de;
+    /* TODO: make common tempdir creation for tcg tests */
+    char template[] = "/tmp/linux-test-XXXXXX";
+    char *tmpdir = mkdtemp(template);
 
-    /* clean up, just in case */
-    unlink(TESTPATH "/file1");
-    unlink(TESTPATH "/file2");
-    unlink(TESTPATH "/file3");
-    rmdir(TESTPATH);
+    assert(tmpdir);
 
     if (getcwd(cur_dir, sizeof(cur_dir)) == NULL)
         error("getcwd");
 
-    chk_error(mkdir(TESTPATH, 0755));
-
-    chk_error(chdir(TESTPATH));
+    chk_error(chdir(tmpdir));
 
     /* open/read/write/close/readv/writev/lseek */
 
@@ -163,7 +159,7 @@ static void test_file(void)
         st.st_mtime != 1000)
         error("stat time");
 
-    chk_error(stat(TESTPATH, &st));
+    chk_error(stat(tmpdir, &st));
     if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode))
         error("stat mode");
 
@@ -185,7 +181,7 @@ static void test_file(void)
         error("stat mode");
 
     /* getdents */
-    dir = opendir(TESTPATH);
+    dir = opendir(tmpdir);
     if (!dir)
         error("opendir");
     len = 0;
@@ -207,7 +203,7 @@ static void test_file(void)
     chk_error(unlink("file3"));
     chk_error(unlink("file2"));
     chk_error(chdir(cur_dir));
-    chk_error(rmdir(TESTPATH));
+    chk_error(rmdir(tmpdir));
 }
 
 static void test_fork(void)
@@ -264,7 +260,7 @@ static int server_socket(void)
     chk_error(setsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, &val, sizeof(val)));
 
     sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
-    sockaddr.sin_port = htons(TESTPORT);
+    sockaddr.sin_port = htons(0); /* choose random ephemeral port) */
     sockaddr.sin_addr.s_addr = 0;
     chk_error(bind(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr, sizeof(sockaddr)));
     chk_error(listen(fd, 0));
@@ -272,7 +268,7 @@ static int server_socket(void)
 
 }
 
-static int client_socket(void)
+static int client_socket(uint16_t port)
 {
     int fd;
     struct sockaddr_in sockaddr;
@@ -280,7 +276,7 @@ static int client_socket(void)
     /* server socket */
     fd = chk_error(socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0));
     sockaddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
-    sockaddr.sin_port = htons(TESTPORT);
+    sockaddr.sin_port = htons(port);
     inet_aton("127.0.0.1", &sockaddr.sin_addr);
     chk_error(connect(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr, sizeof(sockaddr)));
     return fd;
@@ -292,10 +288,17 @@ static void test_socket(void)
 {
     int server_fd, client_fd, fd, pid, ret, val;
     struct sockaddr_in sockaddr;
-    socklen_t len;
+    struct sockaddr_in server_addr;
+    socklen_t len, socklen;
+    uint16_t server_port;
     char buf[512];
 
     server_fd = server_socket();
+    /* find out what port we got */
+    socklen = sizeof(server_addr);
+    ret = getsockname(server_fd, &server_addr, &socklen);
+    chk_error(ret);
+    server_port = ntohs(server_addr.sin_port);
 
     /* test a few socket options */
     len = sizeof(val);
@@ -305,7 +308,7 @@ static void test_socket(void)
 
     pid = chk_error(fork());
     if (pid == 0) {
-        client_fd = client_socket();
+        client_fd = client_socket(server_port);
         send(client_fd, socket_msg, sizeof(socket_msg), 0);
         close(client_fd);
         exit(0);