diff --git a/tasks/redis.rake b/tasks/redis.rake
index 58d8e652d..b1970f3df 100644
--- a/tasks/redis.rake
+++ b/tasks/redis.rake
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ class RedisRunner
 
 end
 
+INSTALL_DIR = ENV['INSTALL_DIR'] || '/tmp/redis'
+
+
 namespace :redis do
 
   desc 'About redis'
@@ -93,27 +96,27 @@ namespace :redis do
     end
 
     %w(redis-benchmark redis-cli redis-server).each do |bin|
-      sh "cp /tmp/redis/src/#{bin} #{bin_dir}"
+      sh "cp #{INSTALL_DIR}/src/#{bin} #{bin_dir}"
     end
 
     puts "Installed redis-benchmark, redis-cli and redis-server to #{bin_dir}"
 
     unless File.exists?("#{conf_dir}/redis.conf")
-      sh "cp /tmp/redis/redis.conf #{conf_dir}/redis.conf"
+      sh "cp #{INSTALL_DIR}/redis.conf #{conf_dir}/redis.conf"
       puts "Installed redis.conf to #{conf_dir} \n You should look at this file!"
     end
   end
 
   task :make do
-    sh "cd /tmp/redis/src && make clean"
-    sh "cd /tmp/redis/src && make"
+    sh "cd #{INSTALL_DIR}/src && make clean"
+    sh "cd #{INSTALL_DIR}/src && make"
   end
 
   desc "Download package"
   task :download do
-    sh 'rm -rf /tmp/redis/' if File.exists?("/tmp/redis/.svn")
-    sh 'git clone git://github.com/antirez/redis.git /tmp/redis' unless File.exists?('/tmp/redis')
-    sh "cd /tmp/redis && git pull" if File.exists?("/tmp/redis/.git")
+    sh "rm -rf #{INSTALL_DIR}/" if File.exists?("#{INSTALL_DIR}/.svn")
+    sh "git clone git://github.com/antirez/redis.git #{INSTALL_DIR}" unless File.exists?(INSTALL_DIR)
+    sh "cd #{INSTALL_DIR} && git pull" if File.exists?("#{INSTALL_DIR}/.git")
   end
 
 end
@@ -129,30 +132,31 @@ namespace :dtach do
   task :install => [:about, :download, :make] do
 
     bin_dir = "/usr/bin"
+    
 
     if ENV['PREFIX']
       bin_dir = "#{ENV['PREFIX']}/bin"
       sh "mkdir -p #{bin_dir}" unless File.exists?("#{bin_dir}")
     end
 
-    sh "cp /tmp/dtach-0.8/dtach #{bin_dir}"
+    sh "cp #{INSTALL_DIR}/dtach-0.8/dtach #{bin_dir}"
   end
 
   task :make do
-    sh 'cd /tmp/dtach-0.8/ && ./configure && make'
+    sh "cd #{INSTALL_DIR}/dtach-0.8/ && ./configure && make"
   end
 
   desc "Download package"
   task :download do
-    unless File.exists?('/tmp/dtach-0.8.tar.gz')
+    unless File.exists?("#{INSTALL_DIR}/dtach-0.8.tar.gz")
       require 'net/http'
 
       url = 'http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/dtach/dtach/0.8/dtach-0.8.tar.gz'
-      open('/tmp/dtach-0.8.tar.gz', 'wb') do |file| file.write(open(url).read) end
+      open("#{INSTALL_DIR}/dtach-0.8.tar.gz", 'wb') do |file| file.write(open(url).read) end
     end
 
-    unless File.directory?('/tmp/dtach-0.8')
-      sh 'cd /tmp && tar xzf dtach-0.8.tar.gz'
+    unless File.directory?("#{INSTALL_DIR}/dtach-0.8")
+      sh "cd #{INSTALL_DIR} && tar xzf dtach-0.8.tar.gz"
     end
   end
 end