diff --git a/yadm b/yadm
index 22b9353..c8e31da 100755
--- a/yadm
+++ b/yadm
@@ -304,6 +304,7 @@ function choose_template_cmd() {
 function template_default() {
   input="$1"
   output="$2"
+  temp_file="${output}.$$.$RANDOM"
 
   # the explicit "space + tab" character class used below is used because not
   # all versions of awk seem to support the POSIX character classes [[:blank:]]
@@ -362,12 +363,14 @@ EOF
     -v distro="$local_distro" \
     -v source="$input" \
     "$awk_pgm" \
-    "$input" > "$output"
+    "$input" > "$temp_file"
+  [ -f "$temp_file" ] && mv -f "$temp_file" "$output"
 }
 
 function template_j2cli() {
   input="$1"
   output="$2"
+  temp_file="${output}.$$.$RANDOM"
 
   YADM_CLASS="$local_class"   \
   YADM_OS="$local_system"     \
@@ -375,12 +378,14 @@ function template_j2cli() {
   YADM_USER="$local_user"     \
   YADM_DISTRO="$local_distro" \
   YADM_SOURCE="$input"        \
-  "$J2CLI_PROGRAM" "$input" -o "$output"
+  "$J2CLI_PROGRAM" "$input" -o "$temp_file"
+  [ -f "$temp_file" ] && mv -f "$temp_file" "$output"
 }
 
 function template_envtpl() {
   input="$1"
   output="$2"
+  temp_file="${output}.$$.$RANDOM"
 
   YADM_CLASS="$local_class"   \
   YADM_OS="$local_system"     \
@@ -388,7 +393,8 @@ function template_envtpl() {
   YADM_USER="$local_user"     \
   YADM_DISTRO="$local_distro" \
   YADM_SOURCE="$input"        \
-  "$ENVTPL_PROGRAM" --keep-template "$input" -o "$output"
+  "$ENVTPL_PROGRAM" --keep-template "$input" -o "$temp_file"
+  [ -f "$temp_file" ] && mv -f "$temp_file" "$output"
 }
 
 # ****** yadm Commands ******
@@ -629,7 +635,6 @@ function alt_past_linking() {
 
   # loop over all "tracked" files
   # for every file which is a *##yadm.j2 create a real file
-  local temp="$(mktemp)"
   local match="^(.+)##yadm\\.j2$"
   for tracked_file in "${tracked_files[@]}" "${ENCRYPT_INCLUDE_FILES[@]}"; do
     tracked_file="$YADM_WORK/$tracked_file"
@@ -639,13 +644,14 @@ function alt_past_linking() {
         if envtpl_available; then
           debug "Creating $real_file from template $tracked_file"
           [ -n "$loud" ] && echo "Creating $real_file from template $tracked_file"
+          temp_file="${real_file}.$$.$RANDOM"
           YADM_CLASS="$local_class"   \
           YADM_OS="$local_system"     \
           YADM_HOSTNAME="$local_host" \
           YADM_USER="$local_user"     \
           YADM_DISTRO="$local_distro" \
-          "$ENVTPL_PROGRAM" --keep-template "$tracked_file" -o "$temp"
-          mv "$temp" "$real_file"
+          "$ENVTPL_PROGRAM" --keep-template "$tracked_file" -o "$temp_file"
+          [ -f "$temp_file" ] && mv -f "$temp_file" "$real_file"
         else
           debug "envtpl not available, not creating $real_file from template $tracked_file"
           [ -n "$loud" ] && echo "envtpl not available, not creating $real_file from template $tracked_file"