diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 59c9c630512..23fffb08147 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -39,3 +39,4 @@ PYTHON_COMMAND
 test_completions.txt
 timing.txt
 test/common/build_config.sh
+.coredump_path
diff --git a/autotest.sh b/autotest.sh
index 54f6ba4b389..9098eb2a4ac 100755
--- a/autotest.sh
+++ b/autotest.sh
@@ -28,8 +28,12 @@ fi
 if [ $(uname -s) = Linux ]; then
 	old_core_pattern=$(< /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern)
 	mkdir -p "$output_dir/coredumps"
-	# set core_pattern to a known value to avoid ABRT, systemd-coredump, etc.
-	echo "|$rootdir/scripts/core-collector.sh %P %s %t %c $output_dir/coredumps" > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
+	# Set core_pattern to a known value to avoid ABRT, systemd-coredump, etc.
+	# Dump the $output_dir path to a file so collector can pick it up while executing.
+	# We don't set in in the core_pattern command line because of the string length limitation
+	# of 128 bytes. See 'man core 5' for details.
+	echo "|$rootdir/scripts/core-collector.sh %P %s %t %c" > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
+	echo "$output_dir/coredumps" > "$rootdir/.coredump_path"
 
 	# make sure nbd (network block device) driver is loaded if it is available
 	# this ensures that when tests need to use nbd, it will be fully initialized
diff --git a/scripts/core-collector.sh b/scripts/core-collector.sh
index 28155b39407..b7355df5271 100755
--- a/scripts/core-collector.sh
+++ b/scripts/core-collector.sh
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ args+=(core_pid)
 args+=(core_sig)
 args+=(core_ts)
 args+=(rlimit)
-args+=(output_dir)
 
 read -r "${args[@]}" <<< "$*"
 
@@ -41,7 +40,7 @@ statm=$(< "/proc/$core_pid/statm")
 core_time=$(date -d@"$core_ts")
 core_sig_name=$(kill -l "$core_sig")
 
-core=$output_dir/${exe_path##*/}_$core_pid.core
+core=$(< "${0%/*}/../.coredump_path")/${exe_path##*/}_$core_pid.core
 stderr
 
 # RLIMIT_CORE is not enforced when core is piped to us. To make