diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index f0ed5734e..9e68170ce 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -235,8 +235,11 @@ test_build_system:
     - build_test
   dependencies: []
   script:
-    - ./tools/ci/test_configure_ci_environment.sh
-    - ./tools/ci/test_build_system.sh
+    - ${IDF_PATH}/tools/ci/test_configure_ci_environment.sh
+    - rm -rf test_build_system
+    - mkdir test_build_system
+    - cd test_build_system
+    - ${IDF_PATH}/tools/ci/test_build_system.sh
 
 test_report:
   stage: test_report
diff --git a/tools/ci/build_examples.sh b/tools/ci/build_examples.sh
index 368c1efa8..ec7ff16eb 100755
--- a/tools/ci/build_examples.sh
+++ b/tools/ci/build_examples.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #
 # Runs as part of CI process.
 #
-# Assumes CWD is an out-of-tree build directory, and will copy examples
+# Assumes PWD is an out-of-tree build directory, and will copy examples
 # to individual subdirectories, one by one.
 #
 #
diff --git a/tools/ci/test_build_system.sh b/tools/ci/test_build_system.sh
index 0f2472422..e7a3c7316 100755
--- a/tools/ci/test_build_system.sh
+++ b/tools/ci/test_build_system.sh
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@
 # Test the build system for basic consistency
 #
 # A bash script that tests some likely make failure scenarios in a row
-# Creates its own test build directory under TMP and cleans it up when done.
+#
+# Assumes PWD is an out-of-tree build directory, and will create a
+# subdirectory inside it to run build tests in.
 #
 # Environment variables:
 # IDF_PATH - must be set
-# TMP - can override /tmp location for build directory
 # ESP_IDF_TEMPLATE_GIT - Can override git clone source for template app. Otherwise github.
 # NOCLEANUP - Set to '1' if you want the script to leave its temporary directory when done, for post-mortem.
 #
@@ -26,7 +27,6 @@
 
 # Set up some variables
 #
-[ -z ${TMP} ] && TMP="/tmp"
 # override ESP_IDF_TEMPLATE_GIT to point to a local dir if you're testing and want fast iterations
 [ -z ${ESP_IDF_TEMPLATE_GIT} ] && ESP_IDF_TEMPLATE_GIT=https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf-template.git
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ function failure()
     FAILURES="${FAILURES}${STATUS} :: $1\n"
 }
 
-TESTDIR=${TMP}/build_system_tests_$$
+TESTDIR=${PWD}/build_system_tests_$$
 mkdir -p ${TESTDIR}
 # set NOCLEANUP=1 if you want to keep the test directory around
 # for post-mortem debugging