diff --git a/build-utils/rpmsign.exp b/build-utils/rpmsign.exp
index cf2291696..a0cd89ca6 100755
--- a/build-utils/rpmsign.exp
+++ b/build-utils/rpmsign.exp
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Sign an RPM.  This must be run as root, and root must have already set up the key.
 
 # I think the key needs to come from /root/.gnupg
-set env(HOME) /root
+#set env(HOME) /root
 
 #
 # This Expect script was generated by autoexpect on Fri Jun 27 10:45:23 2008
diff --git a/buildcore.sh b/buildcore.sh
index 479efd084..a0ae1169a 100755
--- a/buildcore.sh
+++ b/buildcore.sh
@@ -80,14 +80,16 @@ OSNAME=$(uname)
 if [ "$OSNAME" != "AIX" ]; then
 	GSA=http://pokgsa.ibm.com/projects/x/xcat/build/linux
 	
-	# Get a lock, so can not do 2 builds at once
-	exec 8>/var/lock/xcatbld-$REL.lock
-	if ! flock -n 8; then
-		echo "Can't get lock /var/lock/xcatbld-$REL.lock.  Someone else must be doing a build right now.  Exiting...."
-		exit 1
-	fi
-	# This is so rpm and gpg will know home, even in sudo
-	export HOME=/root
+        if [ "$(id -u)" == "0" ]; then
+	    # Get a lock, so can not do 2 builds at once
+	    exec 8>/var/lock/xcatbld-$REL.lock
+	    if ! flock -n 8; then
+                echo "Can't get lock /var/lock/xcatbld-$REL.lock.  Someone else must be doing a build right now.  Exiting...."
+                exit 1
+	    fi
+	    # This is so rpm and gpg will know home, even in sudo
+	    export HOME=/root
+        fi
 fi
 
 # for the git case, query the current branch and set REL (changing master to devel if necessary)
@@ -131,9 +133,11 @@ fi
 XCATCORE="xcat-core"		# core-snap is a sym link to xcat-core
 
 if [ "$GIT" = "1" ]; then	# using git - need to include REL in the path where we put the built rpms
-	DESTDIR=../../$REL$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+	#DESTDIR=../../$REL$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+        DESTDIR=$HOME/xcatbuild/$REL$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
 else
-	DESTDIR=../..$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+	#DESTDIR=../..$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+        DESTDIR=$HOME/xcatbuild/..$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
 fi
 SRCD=core-snap-srpms
 
@@ -143,7 +147,7 @@ if [ "$OSNAME" = "AIX" ]; then
 	SYSGRP=system
 else
 	NOARCH=noarch
-	SYSGRP=root
+	SYSGRP=$(id -g)
 fi
 
 function setversionvars {
@@ -453,7 +457,7 @@ if [ -n "$VERBOSEMODE" ]; then
 else
 	verboseflag=""
 fi
-echo "Creating $TARNAME ..."
+echo "Creating $(dirname $DESTDIR)/$TARNAME ..."
 if [[ -e $TARNAME ]]; then
 	mkdir -p previous
 	mv -f $TARNAME previous
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/db2man b/perl-xCAT/db2man
index 43190a9d6..172763521 100755
--- a/perl-xCAT/db2man
+++ b/perl-xCAT/db2man
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ use Pod::Html;
 my $poddir = 'pods';
 my $mandir = 'share/man';
 my $htmldir = 'share/doc';
-my $cachedir = '/tmp';
+my $cachedir = "$ENV{'HOME'}/tmp";
+if (system("mkdir -p $cachedir")) { die "Error: could not create $cachedir.\n"; }
 my $isaix = ($^O =~ /^aix/i);
 my $skiponaix = 'route|group';
 
diff --git a/xCAT-SoftLayer/xpod2man b/xCAT-SoftLayer/xpod2man
index 02c930fbc..1ae1f36c3 100755
--- a/xCAT-SoftLayer/xpod2man
+++ b/xCAT-SoftLayer/xpod2man
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ use Pod::Html;
 my $poddir = 'pods';
 my $mandir = 'share/man';
 my $htmldir = 'share/doc';
-my $cachedir = '/tmp';
+my $cachedir = "$ENV{'HOME'}/tmp";
+if (system("mkdir -p $cachedir")) { die "Error: could not create $cachedir.\n"; }
 
 my @pods = getPodList($poddir);
 #foreach (@pods) { print "$_\n"; } exit;
diff --git a/xCAT-client/xpod2man b/xCAT-client/xpod2man
index 1c883146e..a3db53f2b 100755
--- a/xCAT-client/xpod2man
+++ b/xCAT-client/xpod2man
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ use Pod::Html;
 my $poddir = 'pods';
 my $mandir = 'share/man';
 my $htmldir = 'share/doc';
-my $cachedir = '/tmp';
+my $cachedir = "$ENV{'HOME'}/tmp";
+if (system("mkdir -p $cachedir")) { die "Error: could not create $cachedir.\n"; }
 
 my @pods = getPodList($poddir);
 #foreach (@pods) { print "$_\n"; } exit;
diff --git a/xCAT-vlan/xpod2man b/xCAT-vlan/xpod2man
index 851a1853f..19d43d399 100755
--- a/xCAT-vlan/xpod2man
+++ b/xCAT-vlan/xpod2man
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ use Pod::Html;
 my $poddir = 'pods';
 my $mandir = 'share/man';
 my $htmldir = 'share/doc';
-my $cachedir = '/tmp';
+my $cachedir = "$ENV{'HOME'}/tmp";
+if (system("mkdir -p $cachedir")) { die "Error: could not create $cachedir.\n"; }
 
 my @pods = getPodList($poddir);
 #foreach (@pods) { print "$_\n"; } exit;