diff --git a/lix/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc b/lix/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc
index 57f7c5b99..7359f8c67 100644
--- a/lix/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc
+++ b/lix/libstore/build/derivation-goal.cc
@@ -769,11 +769,7 @@ void replaceValidPath(const Path & storePath, const Path & tmpPath)
        we're repairing (say) Glibc, we end up with a broken system. */
     Path oldPath;
     if (pathExists(storePath)) {
-        do {
-            oldPath = makeTempSiblingPath(storePath);
-            // store paths are often directories so we can't just unlink() it
-            // let's make sure the path doesn't exist before we try to use it
-        } while (pathExists(oldPath));
+        oldPath = makeTempSiblingPath(storePath);
         movePath(storePath, oldPath);
     }
 
diff --git a/lix/libstore/gc.cc b/lix/libstore/gc.cc
index 0decc377f..9169efcc6 100644
--- a/lix/libstore/gc.cc
+++ b/lix/libstore/gc.cc
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ void LocalStore::createTempRootsFile()
 
     /* Create the temporary roots file for this process. */
     while (true) {
-        auto tmp = makeTempPath(fnTempRoots, ".tmp");
+        auto tmp = makeTempPath(fnTempRoots);
         AutoCloseFD fd{sys::open(tmp, O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_CLOEXEC, 0600)};
         if (!fd && errno != EEXIST) {
             throw SysError("opening lock file '%1%'", tmp);
diff --git a/lix/libstore/optimise-store.cc b/lix/libstore/optimise-store.cc
index 1a940800c..3429fbf2d 100644
--- a/lix/libstore/optimise-store.cc
+++ b/lix/libstore/optimise-store.cc
@@ -227,8 +227,7 @@ std::optional<struct ::stat> LocalStore::optimisePath_(
        its timestamp back to 0. */
     MakeReadOnly makeReadOnly(mustToggle ? dirOfPath : "");
 
-    Path tempLink = makeTempPath(config().realStoreDir, "/.tmp-link");
-    (void) sys::unlink(tempLink); // just in case; ignore errors
+    Path tempLink = makeTempPath(config().realStoreDir + "/");
 
     if (sys::link(linkPath, tempLink) == -1) {
         if (errno == EMLINK) {