diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 9faca8b..c208580 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 
 0.29
 
+  New temp_file() and temp_dir() methods; when used by plugins, they create
+  a filename or directory which will last only as long as the current 
+  transaction.  Also created a spool_dir() method which checks/creates the
+  spool_dir when the application starts up.  All three methods are also
+  available in the base class where the temp_* objects are not automatically
+  limited to the transaction's lifetime. (John Peacock)
+
   Added Gavin Carr's greylisting plugin
 
   Renamed config/ to config.sample/
diff --git a/README.plugins b/README.plugins
index 3752639..c862663 100644
--- a/README.plugins
+++ b/README.plugins
@@ -200,3 +200,32 @@ With the $Include stuff you order using the filename of the plugin.d
 file. So if you have a plugin called xyz but want it to come early on,
 you call it's config file 00_xyz, but that file still refers to the
 plugin called xyz.
+
+=head1 Temporary Files
+
+The temporary file and directory functions can be used for plugin specific
+workfiles and will automatically be deleted at the end of the current
+transaction.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item temp_file()
+
+Returns a unique name of a file located in the default spool directory, but
+does not open that file (i.e. it is the name not a file handle).
+
+=item temp_dir()
+
+Returns the name of a unique directory located in the default spool
+directory, after creating the directory with 0700 rights.  If you need a
+directory with different rights (say for an antivirus daemon), you will
+need to use the base function $self->qp->temp_dir() which takes a single
+parameter for the permissions requested (see L<mkdir> for details).  A
+directory created like this will B<not> be deleted when the transaction is
+ended.
+
+=item spool_dir()
+
+Returns the configured system-wide spool directory.
+
+=back
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
index dd745d9..9cc9e23 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
@@ -255,4 +255,52 @@ sub _register_hook {
   }
 }
 
+sub spool_dir {
+  my $self = shift;
+
+  unless ( $self->{_spool_dir} ) { # first time through
+    my $spool_dir = $self->config('spool_dir') 
+                 || Qpsmtpd::Utils::tildeexp('~/tmp/');
+
+    $spool_dir .= "/" unless ($spool_dir =~ m!/$!);
+
+    $spool_dir =~ /^(.+)$/ or die "spool_dir not configured properly";
+    $spool_dir = $1; # cleanse the taint
+    $self->{_spool_dir} = $spool_dir;
+
+    # Make sure the spool dir has appropriate rights
+    if (-e $spool_dir) {
+      my $mode = (stat($spool_dir))[2];
+      warn "Permissions on spool_dir $spool_dir are not 0700" if $mode & 07077;
+    }
+
+    # And finally, create it if it doesn't already exist
+    -d $spool_dir or mkdir($spool_dir, 0700) 
+      or die "Could not create spool_dir $spool_dir: $!";
+  }
+
+  return $self->{_spool_dir};
+}
+
+# For unique filenames. We write to a local tmp dir so we don't need
+# to make them unpredictable.
+my $transaction_counter = 0; 
+
+sub temp_file {
+  my $self = shift;
+  my $filename = $self->spool_dir() 
+    . join(":", time, $$, $transaction_counter++);
+  $filename =~ tr!A-Za-z0-9:/_-!!cd;
+  return $filename;
+} 
+
+sub temp_dir {
+  my $self = shift;
+  my $mask = shift || 0700;
+  my $dirname = $self->temp_file();
+  -d $dirname or mkdir($dirname, $mask)
+    or die "Could not create temporary directory $dirname: $!";
+  return $dirname;
+}
+
 1;
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm
index 2225140..84482ce 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm
@@ -53,6 +53,24 @@ sub connection {
   shift->qp->connection;
 }
 
+sub spool_dir {
+  shift->qp->spool_dir;
+}
+
+sub temp_file {
+  my $self = shift;
+  my $tempfile = $self->qp->temp_file;
+  push @{$self->qp->transaction->{_temp_files}}, $tempfile;
+  return $tempfile;
+}
+
+sub temp_dir {
+  my $self = shift;
+  my $tempdir = $self->qp->temp_dir();
+  push @{$self->qp->transaction->{_temp_dirs}}, $tempdir;
+  return $tempdir;
+}
+
 # plugin inheritance:
 # usage:
 #  sub register {
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
index 1b280fc..4663e54 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Transaction.pm
@@ -7,10 +7,6 @@ use Qpsmtpd::Constants;
 
 use IO::File qw(O_RDWR O_CREAT);
 
-# For unique filenames. We write to a local tmp dir so we don't need
-# to make them unpredictable.
-my $transaction_counter = 0; 
-
 sub new { start(@_) }
 
 sub start {
@@ -71,22 +67,7 @@ sub body_write {
   my $self = shift;
   my $data = shift;
   unless ($self->{_body_file}) {
-     my $spool_dir = $self->config('spool_dir') ? $self->config('spool_dir') 
-                                                : Qpsmtpd::Utils::tildeexp('~/tmp/');
-
-     $spool_dir .= "/" unless ($spool_dir =~ m!/$!);
-     
-     $spool_dir =~ /^(.+)$/ or die "spool_dir not configured properly";
-     $spool_dir = $1;
-
-     if (-e $spool_dir) {
-       my $mode = (stat($spool_dir))[2];
-       die "Permissions on spool_dir $spool_dir are not 0700" if $mode & 07077;
-     }
-
-     -d $spool_dir or mkdir($spool_dir, 0700) or die "Could not create spool_dir $spool_dir: $!";
-     $self->{_filename} = $spool_dir . join(":", time, $$, $transaction_counter++);
-     $self->{_filename} =~ tr!A-Za-z0-9:/_-!!cd;
+    $self->{_filename} = $self->temp_file();
     $self->{_body_file} = IO::File->new($self->{_filename}, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0600)
       or die "Could not open file $self->{_filename} - $! "; # . $self->{_body_file}->error;
   }
@@ -129,6 +110,25 @@ sub DESTROY {
   if ($self->{_filename} and -e $self->{_filename}) {
     unlink $self->{_filename} or $self->log(LOGERROR, "Could not unlink ", $self->{_filename}, ": $!");
   }
+
+  # These may not exist
+  if ( $self->{_temp_files} ) {
+    $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "Cleaning up temporary transaction files");
+    foreach my $file ( @{$self->{_temp_files}} ) {
+      next unless -e $file;
+      unlink $file or $self->log(LOGERROR,
+       "Could not unlink temporary file", $file, ": $!");
+    }
+  }
+  # Ditto
+  if ( $self->{_temp_dirs} ) {
+    eval {use File::Path};
+    $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "Cleaning up temporary directories");
+    foreach my $dir ( @{$self->{_temp_dirs}} ) {
+      rmtree($dir) or $self->log(LOGERROR, 
+        "Could not unlink temporary dir", $dir, ": $!");
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 
diff --git a/t/tempstuff.t b/t/tempstuff.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..467e5d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/tempstuff.t
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl -w
+use Test::More qw(no_plan);
+use File::Path;
+use strict;
+use lib 't';
+use_ok('Test::Qpsmtpd');
+
+BEGIN { # need this to happen before anything else
+    my $cwd = `pwd`;
+    chomp($cwd);
+    open my $spooldir, '>', "./config.sample/spool_dir";
+    print $spooldir "$cwd/t/tmp";
+    close $spooldir;
+}
+
+ok(my ($smtpd, $conn) = Test::Qpsmtpd->new_conn(), "get new connection");
+
+my ($spool_dir,$tempfile,$tempdir) = ( $smtpd->spool_dir,
+$smtpd->temp_file(), $smtpd->temp_dir() );
+
+ok( $spool_dir =~ m!t/tmp/$!, "Located the spool directory");
+ok( $tempfile =~ /^$spool_dir/, "Temporary filename" );
+ok( $tempdir =~ /^$spool_dir/, "Temporary directory" );
+ok( -d $tempdir, "And that directory exists" );
+
+unlink "./config.sample/spool_dir";
+rmtree($spool_dir);