diff -r a702384205af -r 509085ffbce6 virtualenv/res/lib/lib_create_env.py
--- a/virtualenv/res/lib/lib_create_env.py	Wed Dec 19 13:38:48 2012 +0100
+++ b/virtualenv/res/lib/lib_create_env.py	Tue Jan 08 18:10:38 2013 +0100
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
     'FABRIC': {'setup': 'fabric', 'url':'https://github.com/fabric/fabric/tarball/1.5.1', 'local':'fabric-1.5.1.tar.gz', 'install': {'method': 'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
     'MERCURIAL': {'setup': 'mercurial', 'url':'http://mercurial.selenic.com/release/mercurial-2.2.3.tar.gz', 'local':'mercurial-2.2.3.tar.gz', 'install': {'method': 'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
     'HAYSTACK': {'setup': 'django-haystack', 'url': 'https://github.com/toastdriven/django-haystack/tarball/master', 'local': 'django-haystack-v2.0.0.tar.gz', 'install':{'method':'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
-    'REQUESTS': {'setup': 'requests', 'url':'https://github.com/kennethreitz/requests/tarball/v0.13.3', 'local':'requests-v0.13.3.tar.gz', 'install' : {'method':'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
+    'REQUESTS': {'setup': 'requests', 'url':'https://github.com/kennethreitz/requests/archive/v1.0.2.tar.gz', 'local':'requests-v1.0.2.tar.gz', 'install' : {'method':'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
     'PYELASTICSEARCH': {'setup': 'pyelasticsearch', 'url':'https://github.com/toastdriven/pyelasticsearch/tarball/master', 'local':'pyelasticsearch.tar.gz', 'install' : {'method':'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
     'WHOOSH': {'setup': 'whoosh', 'url':'https://bitbucket.org/mchaput/whoosh/get/tip.tar.gz', 'local':'whoosh-2.5.tar.gz', 'install' : {'method':'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
     'SETUPTOOLS_HG' : {'setup':'setuptools_hg', 'url':'http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/s/setuptools_hg/setuptools_hg-0.4.tar.gz', 'local': 'setuptools_hg-0.4.tar.gz', 'install' : {'method':'pip', 'option_str': None, 'dict_extra_env': None}},
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@
             self.__add_package_def(key, url_dict_copy )
 
 def ensure_dir(dir, logger):
+    logger.notify('Check directory %s' % dir)
     if not os.path.exists(dir):
         logger.notify('Creating directory %s' % dir)
         os.makedirs(dir)
@@ -320,7 +321,7 @@
                 option_str = install_options.get('option_str', default_install_options['option_str'])
                 extra_env = install_options.get('dict_extra_env', default_install_options['dict_extra_env'])
                 if 'TMPDIR' not in extra_env:
-                    extra_env['TMPDIR'] = tmp_dir          
+                    extra_env['TMPDIR'] = os.path.abspath(tmp_dir)          
                 #isinstance(lst, (list, tuple))
                 if key not in ignore_packages:
                     if callable(method):