diff --git a/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/File.php b/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/File.php
index be0df9d..145f99c 100644
--- a/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/File.php
+++ b/Classes/PHPExcel/Shared/File.php
@@ -35,6 +35,35 @@
  */
 class PHPExcel_Shared_File
 {
+	/*
+	 * Use Temp or File Upload Temp for temporary files
+	 *
+	 * @protected
+	 * @var	boolean
+	 */
+	protected static $_useUploadTempDirectory	= FALSE;
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Set the flag indicating whether the File Upload Temp directory should be used for temporary files
+	 *
+	 * @param	 boolean	$useUploadTempDir		Use File Upload Temporary directory (true or false)
+	 */
+	public static function setUseUploadTempDirectory($useUploadTempDir = FALSE) {
+		self::$_useUploadTempDirectory = (boolean) $useUploadTempDir;
+	}	//	function setUseUploadTempDirectory()
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the flag indicating whether the File Upload Temp directory should be used for temporary files
+	 *
+	 * @return	 boolean	Use File Upload Temporary directory (true or false)
+	 */
+	public static function getUseUploadTempDirectory() {
+		return self::$_useUploadTempDirectory;
+	}	//	function getUseUploadTempDirectory()
+
+
 	/**
 	  * Verify if a file exists
 	  *
@@ -105,9 +134,19 @@ class PHPExcel_Shared_File
 	 */
 	public static function sys_get_temp_dir()
 	{
+		if (self::$_useUploadTempDirectory) {
+			//  use upload-directory when defined to allow running on environments having very restricted
+			//      open_basedir configs
+			if (ini_get('upload_tmp_dir') !== FALSE) {
+				if ($temp = ini_get('upload_tmp_dir')) {
+					if (file_exists($temp))
+						return realpath($temp);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
 		// sys_get_temp_dir is only available since PHP 5.2.1
 		// http://php.net/manual/en/function.sys-get-temp-dir.php#94119
-
 		if ( !function_exists('sys_get_temp_dir')) {
 			if ($temp = getenv('TMP') ) {
 				if ((!empty($temp)) && (file_exists($temp))) { return realpath($temp); }
diff --git a/changelog.txt b/changelog.txt
index 209f444..7405b8e 100644
--- a/changelog.txt
+++ b/changelog.txt
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ Fixed in develop branch:
 - Bugfix:   (MBaker)   Work item 18794 - CSV files without a file extension being identified as HTML
 - Bugfix:   (AndreKR)  Work item GH-66 - Wrong check for maximum number of rows in Excel5 Writer
 - General:  (kea)      Work item GH-69 - Improved AdvancedValueBinder for currency
+- General:  (MBaker)   Work items 17936 and 17840 - Fix for environments where there is no access to /tmp but to upload_tmp_dir
+                       Provided an option to set the sys_get_temp_dir() call to use the upload_tmp_dir; though by default the standard temp directory will still be used
 - Bugfix:   (techhead) Work item GH-70 - Fixed formula/formatting bug when removing rows
 - Bugfix:   (alexgann) Work item GH-63 - Fix to cellExists for non-existent namedRanges
 - Bugfix:   (MBaker)   Work item 18844 - cache_in_memory_gzip "eats" last worksheet line, cache_in_memory doesn't