diff --git a/.github/workflows/setup-dev-drive.ps1 b/.github/workflows/setup-dev-drive.ps1
index e003cc359..474b082dc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/setup-dev-drive.ps1
+++ b/.github/workflows/setup-dev-drive.ps1
@@ -85,7 +85,6 @@ Write-Output `
 	"DEV_DRIVE=$($Drive)" `
 	"TMP=$($Tmp)" `
 	"TEMP=$($Tmp)" `
-	"UV_INTERNAL__TEST_DIR=$($Tmp)" `
 	"RUSTUP_HOME=$($Drive)/.rustup" `
 	"CARGO_HOME=$($Drive)/.cargo" `
 	"UV_WORKSPACE=$($Drive)/uv" `
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 009b3060f..d25d7d252 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4584,7 +4584,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "ctrlc",
  "dotenvy",
  "dunce",
- "etcetera",
  "filetime",
  "flate2",
  "fs-err 3.1.1",
diff --git a/crates/uv-static/src/env_vars.rs b/crates/uv-static/src/env_vars.rs
index 4a44579d7..4ac2976d9 100644
--- a/crates/uv-static/src/env_vars.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-static/src/env_vars.rs
@@ -359,10 +359,6 @@ impl EnvVars {
     #[attr_hidden]
     pub const UV_INTERNAL__SHOW_DERIVATION_TREE: &'static str = "UV_INTERNAL__SHOW_DERIVATION_TREE";
 
-    /// Used to set a temporary directory for some tests.
-    #[attr_hidden]
-    pub const UV_INTERNAL__TEST_DIR: &'static str = "UV_INTERNAL__TEST_DIR";
-
     /// Path to system-level configuration directory on Unix systems.
     pub const XDG_CONFIG_DIRS: &'static str = "XDG_CONFIG_DIRS";
 
diff --git a/crates/uv/Cargo.toml b/crates/uv/Cargo.toml
index f4afb87fa..9b73a9ebd 100644
--- a/crates/uv/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/uv/Cargo.toml
@@ -114,7 +114,6 @@ assert_cmd = { version = "2.0.16" }
 assert_fs = { version = "1.1.2" }
 base64 = { workspace = true }
 byteorder = { version = "1.5.0" }
-etcetera = { workspace = true }
 filetime = { version = "0.2.25" }
 flate2 = { workspace = true, default-features = false }
 ignore = { version = "0.4.23" }
diff --git a/crates/uv/tests/it/common/mod.rs b/crates/uv/tests/it/common/mod.rs
index 4d65aa4a3..9ead0a7c2 100644
--- a/crates/uv/tests/it/common/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/uv/tests/it/common/mod.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ use assert_cmd::assert::{Assert, OutputAssertExt};
 use assert_fs::assert::PathAssert;
 use assert_fs::fixture::{ChildPath, PathChild, PathCopy, PathCreateDir, SymlinkToFile};
 use base64::{Engine, prelude::BASE64_STANDARD as base64};
-use etcetera::BaseStrategy;
 use futures::StreamExt;
 use indoc::formatdoc;
 use itertools::Itertools;
@@ -407,25 +406,20 @@ impl TestContext {
         self
     }
 
-    /// Discover the path to the XDG state directory. We use this, rather than the OS-specific
-    /// temporary directory, because on macOS (and Windows on GitHub Actions), they involve
-    /// symlinks. (On macOS, the temporary directory is, like `/var/...`, which resolves to
-    /// `/private/var/...`.)
+    /// Default to the canonicalized path to the temp directory. We need to do this because on
+    /// macOS (and Windows on GitHub Actions) the standard temp dir is a symlink. (On macOS, the
+    /// temporary directory is, like `/var/...`, which resolves to `/private/var/...`.)
     ///
     /// It turns out that, at least on macOS, if we pass a symlink as `current_dir`, it gets
     /// _immediately_ resolved (such that if you call `current_dir` in the running `Command`, it
-    /// returns resolved symlink). This is problematic, as we _don't_ want to resolve symlinks
-    /// for user-provided paths.
+    /// returns resolved symlink). This breaks some snapshot tests, since we _don't_ want to
+    /// resolve symlinks for user-provided paths.
     pub fn test_bucket_dir() -> PathBuf {
-        env::var(EnvVars::UV_INTERNAL__TEST_DIR)
-            .map(PathBuf::from)
-            .unwrap_or_else(|_| {
-                etcetera::base_strategy::choose_base_strategy()
-                    .expect("Failed to find base strategy")
-                    .data_dir()
-                    .join("uv")
-                    .join("tests")
-            })
+        std::env::temp_dir()
+            .simple_canonicalize()
+            .expect("failed to canonicalize temp dir")
+            .join("uv")
+            .join("tests")
     }
 
     /// Create a new test context with multiple Python versions.