diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilder.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilder.java
index da8c4965..66fd0b3c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilder.java
@@ -70,8 +70,15 @@ public FileDistributionPackageBuilder(String type,
         this.distributionContentSerializer = distributionContentSerializer;
         this.nodeFilters = VltUtils.parseFilters(nodeFilters);
         this.propertyFilters = VltUtils.parseFilters(propertyFilters);
-        this.tempDirectory = VltUtils.getTempFolder(tempFilesFolder);
         this.digestAlgorithm = digestAlgorithm;
+
+        File tempDirectory = VltUtils.getTempFolder(tempFilesFolder);
+
+        if (tempDirectory == null) {
+            tempDirectory = new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"));
+        }
+
+        this.tempDirectory = tempDirectory;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilderTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilderTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ea6072c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/sling/distribution/packaging/impl/FileDistributionPackageBuilderTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.sling.distribution.packaging.impl;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+
+import org.apache.sling.api.resource.ResourceResolver;
+import org.apache.sling.distribution.DistributionRequest;
+import org.apache.sling.distribution.common.DistributionException;
+import org.apache.sling.distribution.packaging.DistributionPackage;
+import org.apache.sling.distribution.serialization.DistributionContentSerializer;
+import org.apache.sling.distribution.serialization.DistributionExportOptions;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class FileDistributionPackageBuilderTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDefaultTempDirectory() throws DistributionException, IOException {
+        FileDistributionPackageBuilder builder = new FileDistributionPackageBuilder("test", new TestSerializer(), null, null, new String[0],
+                new String[0]);
+        DistributionPackage createdPackage = builder.createPackageForAdd(mock(ResourceResolver.class), mock(DistributionRequest.class));
+
+        try {
+            assertNotNull(createdPackage.createInputStream());
+            DistributionPackage gotPackage = builder.getPackageInternal(mock(ResourceResolver.class), createdPackage.getId());
+            assertNotNull(gotPackage.createInputStream()); // this will throw an exception when the file doesn't exist
+        } finally {
+            createdPackage.delete();
+        }
+    }
+
+    class TestSerializer implements DistributionContentSerializer {
+
+        @Override public void exportToStream(ResourceResolver resourceResolver, DistributionExportOptions exportOptions,
+                OutputStream outputStream) throws DistributionException {
+            try {
+                outputStream.write("test".getBytes());
+            } catch (IOException ex) {
+                throw new DistributionException(ex);
+            }
+        }
+
+        @Override public void importFromStream(ResourceResolver resourceResolver, InputStream inputStream) throws DistributionException {
+            throw new DistributionException("unsupported");
+        }
+
+        @Override public String getName() {
+            return "test";
+        }
+
+        @Override public boolean isRequestFiltering() {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+}