diff --git a/smoketest.bash b/smoketest.bash
index 7bc15962b..ab0245d90 100755
--- a/smoketest.bash
+++ b/smoketest.bash
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ for file in "${FILES[@]}"; do
     CMD+=(-f "${file}")
 done
 
-HOSTSFILE="${HOSTSFILE:-~/.hosts}"
+HOSTSFILE="${HOSTSFILE:-$HOME/.hosts}"
 
 cleanup() {
     DOWN_FLAGS=('--remove-orphans')
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ setupUserHosts() {
     truncate -s 0 "${HOSTSFILE}"
     for file in "${FILES[@]}" ; do
         hosts="$(yq '.services.*.hostname' "${file}" | grep -v null | sed -e 's/^/localhost /')"
-        echo "${hosts}" >> ~/.hosts
+        echo "${hosts}" >> "${HOSTSFILE}"
     done
 }
 setupUserHosts
diff --git a/smoketest/containers/smoketest_pod.bash b/smoketest/containers/smoketest_pod.bash
index eea4fcdaf..4bddfe954 100755
--- a/smoketest/containers/smoketest_pod.bash
+++ b/smoketest/containers/smoketest_pod.bash
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 set -x
 set -e
 
-HOSTSFILE="${HOSTSFILE:-~/.hosts}"
+HOSTSFILE="${HOSTSFILE:-$HOME/.hosts}"
 
 cleanup() {
     podman-compose --in-pod=1 \
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ cleanup
 #     --user=0 \
 #     --security-opt label=disable \
 #     -v "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/podman/podman.sock:/tmp/docker.sock:Z" \
-#     -v "${HOME}/.hosts:/tmp/hosts" \
+#     -v "${HOSTSFILE}:/tmp/hosts" \
 #     dvdarias/docker-hoster
 
 setupUserHosts() {