diff --git a/openstack/common/lockutils.py b/openstack/common/lockutils.py
index afd6d00..21115fd 100644
--- a/openstack/common/lockutils.py
+++ b/openstack/common/lockutils.py
@@ -39,9 +39,8 @@ util_opts = [
     cfg.BoolOpt('disable_process_locking', default=False,
                 help='Whether to disable inter-process locks'),
     cfg.StrOpt('lock_path',
-               default=os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
-                                                    '../')),
-               help='Directory to use for lock files')
+               help=('Directory to use for lock files. Default to a '
+                     'temp directory'))
 ]