diff --git a/Xext/shm.c b/Xext/shm.c
index ed43b9202..2739a59e7 100644
--- a/Xext/shm.c
+++ b/Xext/shm.c
@@ -1194,36 +1194,46 @@ ProcShmAttachFd(ClientPtr client)
 static int
 shm_tmpfile(void)
 {
-#ifdef SHMDIR
+    const char *shmdirs[] = {
+        "/run/shm",
+        "/var/tmp",
+        "/tmp",
+    };
     int	fd;
-    char	template[] = SHMDIR "/shmfd-XXXXXX";
+
 #ifdef O_TMPFILE
-    fd = open(SHMDIR, O_TMPFILE|O_RDWR|O_CLOEXEC|O_EXCL, 0666);
-    if (fd >= 0) {
-        DebugF ("Using O_TMPFILE\n");
-        return fd;
+    for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(shmdirs); i++) {
+        fd = open(shmdirs[i], O_TMPFILE|O_RDWR|O_CLOEXEC|O_EXCL, 0666);
+        if (fd >= 0) {
+            DebugF ("Using O_TMPFILE\n");
+            return fd;
+        }
     }
     ErrorF ("Not using O_TMPFILE\n");
 #endif
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(shmdirs); i++) {
+        char template[PATH_MAX];
+        snprintf(template, ARRAY_SIZE(template), "%s/shmfd-XXXXXX", shmdirs[i]);
 #ifdef HAVE_MKOSTEMP
-    fd = mkostemp(template, O_CLOEXEC);
+        fd = mkostemp(template, O_CLOEXEC);
 #else
-    fd = mkstemp(template);
+        fd = mkstemp(template);
 #endif
-    if (fd < 0)
-        return -1;
-    unlink(template);
+        if (fd < 0)
+            continue;
+        unlink(template);
 #ifndef HAVE_MKOSTEMP
-    int flags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD);
-    if (flags != -1) {
-        flags |= FD_CLOEXEC;
-        (void) fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, &flags);
+        int flags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD);
+        if (flags != -1) {
+            flags |= FD_CLOEXEC;
+            (void) fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, &flags);
+        }
+#endif
+        return fd;
     }
-#endif
-    return fd;
-#else
+
     return -1;
-#endif
 }
 
 static int
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 359b62cb5..57a233102 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1115,49 +1115,6 @@ case "$DRI2,$HAVE_DRI2PROTO" in
 esac
 AM_CONDITIONAL(DRI2, test "x$DRI2" = xyes)
 
-dnl
-dnl Locate a suitable tmp file system for creating shared memeory files
-dnl
-
-AC_ARG_WITH(shared-memory-dir, AS_HELP_STRING([--with-shared-memory-dir=PATH], [Path to directory in a world-writable temporary directory for anonymous shared memory (default: auto)]),
-[],
-[with_shared_memory_dir=yes])
-
-shmdirs="/run/shm /var/tmp /tmp"
-
-case x"$with_shared_memory_dir" in
-xyes)
-	for dir in $shmdirs; do
-		case x"$with_shared_memory_dir" in
-		xyes)
-			echo Checking temp dir "$dir"
-			if test -d "$dir"; then
-				with_shared_memory_dir="$dir"
-			fi
-			;;
-		esac
-	done
-	;;
-x/*)
-	;;
-xno)
-	;;
-*)
-	AC_MSG_ERROR([Invalid directory specified for --with-shared-memory-dir: $with_shared_memory_dir])
-	;;
-esac
-
-case x"$with_shared_memory_dir" in
-xyes)
-	AC_MSG_ERROR([No directory found for shared memory temp files.])
-	;;
-xno)
-	;;
-*)
-	AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(SHMDIR, ["$with_shared_memory_dir"], [Directory for shared memory temp files])
-	;;
-esac
-
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(xtrans-send-fds,	AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-xtrans-send-fds], [Use Xtrans support for fd passing (default: auto)]), [XTRANS_SEND_FDS=$enableval], [XTRANS_SEND_FDS=auto])
 
 case "x$XTRANS_SEND_FDS" in
diff --git a/include/dix-config.h.in b/include/dix-config.h.in
index f8df86608..3bd22b8bb 100644
--- a/include/dix-config.h.in
+++ b/include/dix-config.h.in
@@ -452,9 +452,6 @@
 /* Wrap SIGBUS to catch MIT-SHM faults */
 #undef BUSFAULT
 
-/* Directory for shared memory temp files */
-#undef SHMDIR
-
 /* Don't let Xdefs.h define 'pointer' */
 #define _XTYPEDEF_POINTER       1
 
diff --git a/include/meson.build b/include/meson.build
index 4a0c12f5a..04c41e999 100644
--- a/include/meson.build
+++ b/include/meson.build
@@ -91,11 +91,6 @@ conf_data.set('SYSTEMD_LOGIND', build_systemd_logind)
 conf_data.set('NEED_DBUS', build_systemd_logind or build_hal)
 conf_data.set('CONFIG_WSCONS', host_machine.system() == 'openbsd')
 
-# XXX: SHMDIR is weird in autoconf, probing the build system for
-# various tmp directories.  Could we replace it with C code at runtime
-# that just uses whatever directory works?
-conf_data.set_quoted('SHMDIR', '/tmp')
-
 conf_data.set('HAVE_XSHMFENCE', xshmfence_dep.found())
 conf_data.set('WITH_LIBDRM', libdrm_dep.found())
 conf_data.set('GLAMOR_HAS_EGL_QUERY_DMABUF',