diff --git a/libcob/ChangeLog b/libcob/ChangeLog
index 5d6d2bd54..acad00810 100644
--- a/libcob/ChangeLog
+++ b/libcob/ChangeLog
@@ -677,6 +677,11 @@
 	  having only its POINTER be "external" and use cob_file_malloc to allocate
 	  and set the attributes
 
+2021-09-28  Simon Sobisch <simonsobisch@gnu.org>
+
+	* common.c (cob_gettmpdir): do the lookup and validation only once,
+	  also ensure for TMPDIR that it has no trailing slash
+
 2021-09-27  Simon Sobisch <simonsobisch@gnu.org>
 
 	* common.c (call_exit_handlers_and_terminate): extracted from
diff --git a/libcob/common.c b/libcob/common.c
index 48215ab4f..6d10a0004 100644
--- a/libcob/common.c
+++ b/libcob/common.c
@@ -5642,45 +5642,57 @@ check_valid_env_tmpdir (const char *envname)
 static const char *
 cob_gettmpdir (void)
 {
-	const char	*tmpdir;
+	static const char	*tmpdir = NULL;
 	char	*tmp;
 
-	if ((tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TMPDIR")) == NULL) {
-		tmp = NULL;
+	if (tmpdir != NULL) {
+		return tmpdir;
+	}
+
+	tmp = NULL;
+	/* target directory, also used by most called external tools*/
+	if ((tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TMPDIR")) == NULL
+	/* OS specific temporary paths */
 #ifdef	_WIN32
-		if ((tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TEMP")) == NULL
-		 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TMP")) == NULL
-		 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("USERPROFILE")) == NULL) {
+	 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TEMP")) == NULL
+	 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TMP")) == NULL
+	 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("USERPROFILE")) == NULL) {
 #else
-		if ((tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TMP")) == NULL
-		 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TEMP")) == NULL) {
-			if (!check_valid_dir ("/tmp")) {
-				tmp = cob_fast_malloc (5U);
-				strcpy (tmp, "/tmp");
-				tmpdir = tmp;
-			}
+	 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TMP")) == NULL
+	 && (tmpdir = check_valid_env_tmpdir ("TEMP")) == NULL) {
+		if (!check_valid_dir ("/tmp")) {
+			tmp = cob_fast_malloc (5U);
+			strcpy (tmp, "/tmp");
+			tmpdir = tmp;
 		}
-		if (!tmpdir) {
 #endif
-			tmp = cob_fast_malloc (2U);
-			tmp[0] = '.';
-			tmp[1] = 0;
+	}
+	/* fallback if still not valid: current directory */
+	if (!tmpdir) {
+		tmp = cob_fast_malloc (2U);
+		tmp[0] = '.';
+		tmp[1] = 0;
+		tmpdir = tmp;
+	} else {
+		/* if we have a valid path: ensure there's no trailing slash */
+		size_t size = strlen (tmpdir) - 1;
+		if (tmpdir[size] == SLASH_CHAR) {
+			tmp = (char*)cob_fast_malloc (size + 1);
+			memcpy (tmp, tmpdir, size);
+			tmp[size] = 0;
 			tmpdir = tmp;
-		} else {
-			size_t size = strlen (tmpdir) - 1;
-			if (tmpdir[size] == SLASH_CHAR) {
-				tmp = (char*)cob_fast_malloc (size + 1);
-				memcpy (tmp, tmpdir, size);
-				tmp[size] = 0;
-				tmpdir = tmp;
-			}
-		}
-		(void)cob_setenv ("TMPDIR", tmpdir, 1);
-		if (tmp) {
-			cob_free ((void *)tmp);
-			tmpdir = getenv ("TMPDIR");
 		}
 	}
+	/* ensure TMPDIR is set for called tools (which partially break hard otherwise) */
+	(void)cob_setenv ("TMPDIR", tmpdir, 1);
+
+	if (tmp) {
+		cob_free ((void *)tmp);
+	}
+
+	/* get the pointer to the environment copy - as this may point to a different place -
+	   store it for subsequent calls and finally return it to the caller */
+	tmpdir = getenv ("TMPDIR");
 	return tmpdir;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/ChangeLog b/tests/ChangeLog
index cad5845a3..6169228ca 100644
--- a/tests/ChangeLog
+++ b/tests/ChangeLog
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@
 	* testsuite.src/listings.at: ignore all stderr in listing tests
 	  as those are checked via the listing output there
 
+2021-09-28  Simon Sobisch <simonsobisch@gnu.org>
+
+	* atlocal.in: workaround for MSYS issues
+
 2021-09-25   Ron Norman <rjn@inglenet.com>
 
 	* atlocal.in,atlocal_win,atlocal_valgrind: Add -std=default to COBC
diff --git a/tests/atlocal.in b/tests/atlocal.in
index ff4e4332e..f054d9454 100644
--- a/tests/atlocal.in
+++ b/tests/atlocal.in
@@ -140,6 +140,12 @@ _return_path () {
 # Fix for testcases where cobc translates path to win32 equivalents
 if test "x$MSYSTEM" != "x"; then
 	PATHSEP=";"
+	# finding the cobc executable is done from MSYS, but if this calls cobcrun
+	# it just uses the PATH variable which not necessarily has the correct
+	# order - especially if the current system has cobcrun installed - so
+	# let that cobc call COBCRUN with a full path (converted by MSYS into
+	# the Win32 variant when starting the cobc process)
+	COBCRUN=${ABS_COBCRUN}
 else
 	PATHSEP='@PATH_SEPARATOR@';
 fi
diff --git a/tests/testsuite.src/run_file.at b/tests/testsuite.src/run_file.at
index a7e9318fa..add3dc61a 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite.src/run_file.at
+++ b/tests/testsuite.src/run_file.at
@@ -6080,9 +6080,13 @@ AT_CHECK([$COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog ./prog.cob], [0],
 AT_CHECK([DD_dot="." dd_dot="A" dot="B"  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog 'dot/prog.cob'], [0],
 [RUN WITH dot/prog.cob
 ], [])
-AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="." dot="A"  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog 'dot/prog.cob'], [0],
-[RUN WITH dot/prog.cob
+# MinGW and other Win32 builds would fail this - because "getenv is not case sensitive"
+# note: does not apply to cygwin; "AAA" wins over "aaa"
+if test "$PATHSEP" != ";"; then
+   AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="." dot="A"  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog 'dot/prog.cob'], [0],
+   [RUN WITH dot/prog.cob
 ], [])
+fi
 # MF would say (ignore for now as this conflicts with ACUCOBOL) don't resolve by $
 # as it does not start with $:
 #AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="" dot="." $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog 'dot/prog.cob'], [0],
@@ -6100,9 +6104,13 @@ error opening file ...
 AT_CHECK([DD_dot="." dd_dot="" dot=""  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/prog.cob'], [0],
 [RUN WITH $dot/prog.cob
 ], [])
-AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="." dot=""  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/prog.cob'], [0],
-[RUN WITH $dot/prog.cob
+# MinGW and other Win32 builds would fail this - because "getenv is not case sensitive"
+# note: does not apply to cygwin; "AAA" wins over "aaa"
+if test "$PATHSEP" != ";"; then
+   AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="." dot=""  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/prog.cob'], [0],
+   [RUN WITH $dot/prog.cob
 ], [])
+fi
 AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="" dot="."  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/prog.cob'], [0],
 [RUN WITH $dot/prog.cob
 ], [])
@@ -6111,7 +6119,7 @@ AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="" dot="."  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/prog.cob'],
 AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="" dot=""  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/prog.cob'], [0],
 [RUN WITH $dot/prog.cob
 ], [])
-# would _possibly_ fail with MF (docs are wrong here in any case...)
+# would _possibly_ fail with MF (their docs do not match their behaviour in any case...)
 # but this is by GnuCOBOL design here:
 AT_CHECK([DD_dot="" dd_dot="" dot=""  $COBCRUN_DIRECT ./prog '$dot/$dotter/prog.cob'], [0],
 [RUN WITH $dot/$dotter/prog.cob
@@ -11994,7 +12002,7 @@ AT_DATA([prog.cob], [
            MOVE READ-RANDOM-LOCK     TO COBOL-OP.
            SET FCD-RECORD-ADDRESS    TO ADDRESS OF RECORD-AREA.
            PERFORM A-200-CALL-EXTFH.
-		   MOVE FCD-RELATIVE-KEY TO I.
+           MOVE FCD-RELATIVE-KEY TO I.
        A-400-REWRITE-RECORD.
            MOVE COBOL-TYPE     TO ACTION-TYPE.
            MOVE REWRITE-RECORD TO COBOL-OP.