diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/Application.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/Application.java
index 5c8aab97dc..83d250981f 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/Application.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/Application.java
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.Reporter;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskAttemptID;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskLog;
-import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRJobConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.filecache.DistributedCache;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.security.SecureShuffleUtils;
@@ -104,8 +103,8 @@ class Application<K1 extends WritableComparable, V1 extends Writable,
     // This password is used as shared secret key between this application and
     // child pipes process
     byte[]  password = jobToken.getPassword();
-    String localPasswordFile = new File(conf.get(MRConfig.LOCAL_DIR))
-        + Path.SEPARATOR + "jobTokenPassword";
+    String localPasswordFile = new File(".") + Path.SEPARATOR
+        + "jobTokenPassword";
     writePasswordToLocalFile(localPasswordFile, password, conf);
     env.put("hadoop.pipes.shared.secret.location", localPasswordFile);
  
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/TestPipeApplication.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/TestPipeApplication.java
index 13597e024f..88d8f95d02 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/TestPipeApplication.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/pipes/TestPipeApplication.java
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.WritableComparable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.IFile.Writer;
-import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRJobConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.security.TokenCache;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.Counters;
@@ -84,10 +83,10 @@ public class TestPipeApplication {
   public void testRunner() throws Exception {
 
     // clean old password files
-    JobConf conf = new JobConf();
-    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile(conf);
+    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile();
     try {
       RecordReader<FloatWritable, NullWritable> rReader = new ReaderPipesMapRunner();
+      JobConf conf = new JobConf();
       conf.set(Submitter.IS_JAVA_RR, "true");
       // for stdour and stderror
 
@@ -163,7 +162,7 @@ public void testApplication() throws Throwable {
 
     TestTaskReporter reporter = new TestTaskReporter();
 
-    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile(conf);
+    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile();
     try {
 
       conf.set(MRJobConfig.TASK_ATTEMPT_ID, taskName);
@@ -248,7 +247,7 @@ public void testSubmitter() throws Exception {
 
     JobConf conf = new JobConf();
 
-    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile(conf);
+    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile();
 
     System.setProperty("test.build.data",
             "target/tmp/build/TEST_SUBMITTER_MAPPER/data");
@@ -389,8 +388,8 @@ public void testSubmitter() throws Exception {
   @Test
   public void testPipesReduser() throws Exception {
 
+    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile();
     JobConf conf = new JobConf();
-    File[] psw = cleanTokenPasswordFile(conf);
     try {
       Token<AMRMTokenIdentifier> token = new Token<AMRMTokenIdentifier>(
               "user".getBytes(), "password".getBytes(), new Text("kind"), new Text(
@@ -507,16 +506,14 @@ public void progress() {
 
   }
 
-  private File[] cleanTokenPasswordFile(JobConf conf) throws Exception {
+  private File[] cleanTokenPasswordFile() throws Exception {
     File[] result = new File[2];
-    result[0] = new File(conf.get(MRConfig.LOCAL_DIR) + Path.SEPARATOR
-        + "jobTokenPassword");
+    result[0] = new File("./jobTokenPassword");
     if (result[0].exists()) {
       FileUtil.chmod(result[0].getAbsolutePath(), "700");
       assertTrue(result[0].delete());
     }
-    result[1] = new File(conf.get(MRConfig.LOCAL_DIR) + Path.SEPARATOR
-        + ".jobTokenPassword.crc");
+    result[1] = new File("./.jobTokenPassword.crc");
     if (result[1].exists()) {
       FileUtil.chmod(result[1].getAbsolutePath(), "700");
       result[1].delete();