diff --git a/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Caching.h b/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Caching.h
--- a/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Caching.h
+++ b/llvm/include/llvm/Support/Caching.h
@@ -62,10 +62,11 @@
     std::function<void(unsigned Task, std::unique_ptr<MemoryBuffer> MB)>;
 
 /// Create a local file system cache which uses the given cache name, temporary
-/// file prefix, cache directory and file callback. This function also creates
-/// the cache directory if it does not already exist. The cache name appears in
-/// error messages for errors during caching. The temporary file prefix is used
-/// in the temporary file naming scheme used when writing files atomically.
+/// file prefix, cache directory and file callback.  This function does not
+/// immediately create the cache directory if it does not yet exist; this is
+/// done lazily the first time a file is added.  The cache name appears in error
+/// messages for errors during caching. The temporary file prefix is used in the
+/// temporary file naming scheme used when writing files atomically.
 Expected<FileCache> localCache(
     Twine CacheNameRef, Twine TempFilePrefixRef, Twine CacheDirectoryPathRef,
     AddBufferFn AddBuffer = [](size_t Task, std::unique_ptr<MemoryBuffer> MB) {
diff --git a/llvm/lib/Support/Caching.cpp b/llvm/lib/Support/Caching.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/Support/Caching.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/Support/Caching.cpp
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@
                                      Twine TempFilePrefixRef,
                                      Twine CacheDirectoryPathRef,
                                      AddBufferFn AddBuffer) {
-  if (std::error_code EC = sys::fs::create_directories(CacheDirectoryPathRef))
-    return errorCodeToError(EC);
 
   // Create local copies which are safely captured-by-copy in lambdas
   SmallString<64> CacheName, TempFilePrefix, CacheDirectoryPath;
@@ -140,6 +138,12 @@
     };
 
     return [=](size_t Task) -> Expected<std::unique_ptr<CachedFileStream>> {
+      // Create the cache directory if not already done. Doing this lazily
+      // ensures the filesystem isn't mutated until the cache is.
+      if (std::error_code EC = sys::fs::create_directories(
+              CacheDirectoryPath, /*IgnoreExisting=*/true))
+        return errorCodeToError(EC);
+
       // Write to a temporary to avoid race condition
       SmallString<64> TempFilenameModel;
       sys::path::append(TempFilenameModel, CacheDirectoryPath,
diff --git a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/cache.ll b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/cache.ll
--- a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/cache.ll
+++ b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/cache.ll
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 ; RUN:  -r=%t2.bc,_main,plx \
 ; RUN:  -r=%t2.bc,_globalfunc,lx \
 ; RUN:  -r=%t.bc,_globalfunc,plx
-; RUN: ls %t.cache.noindex | count 0
+; RUN: not ls %t.cache.noindex
 
 
 ; Repeat again, *with* hash this time.
diff --git a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/empty_module_with_cache.ll b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/empty_module_with_cache.ll
--- a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/empty_module_with_cache.ll
+++ b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/empty_module_with_cache.ll
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 ; RUN: rm -Rf %t.cache
 ; RUN: llvm-lto2 run -o %t.o %t2.bc  %t.bc -cache-dir %t.cache \
 ; RUN:  -r=%t2.bc,_main,plx
-; RUN: ls %t.cache | count 0
+; RUN: not ls %t.cache
 
 
 target datalayout = "e-m:o-p270:32:32-p271:32:32-p272:64:64-i64:64-f80:128-n8:16:32:64-S128"
diff --git a/llvm/unittests/Debuginfod/DebuginfodTests.cpp b/llvm/unittests/Debuginfod/DebuginfodTests.cpp
--- a/llvm/unittests/Debuginfod/DebuginfodTests.cpp
+++ b/llvm/unittests/Debuginfod/DebuginfodTests.cpp
@@ -17,6 +17,17 @@
 #define setenv(name, var, ignore) _putenv_s(name, var)
 #endif
 
+#define ASSERT_NO_ERROR(x)                                                     \
+  if (std::error_code ASSERT_NO_ERROR_ec = x) {                                \
+    SmallString<128> MessageStorage;                                           \
+    raw_svector_ostream Message(MessageStorage);                               \
+    Message << #x ": did not return errc::success.\n"                          \
+            << "error number: " << ASSERT_NO_ERROR_ec.value() << "\n"          \
+            << "error message: " << ASSERT_NO_ERROR_ec.message() << "\n";      \
+    GTEST_FATAL_FAILURE_(MessageStorage.c_str());                              \
+  } else {                                                                     \
+  }
+
 using namespace llvm;
 
 // Check that the Debuginfod client can find locally cached artifacts.
@@ -40,11 +51,12 @@
 // Check that the Debuginfod client returns an Error when it fails to find an
 // artifact.
 TEST(DebuginfodClient, CacheMiss) {
-  // Set the cache path to a temp directory to avoid permissions issues if $HOME
-  // is not writable.
-  SmallString<32> TempDir;
-  sys::path::system_temp_directory(true, TempDir);
-  setenv("DEBUGINFOD_CACHE_PATH", TempDir.c_str(),
+  SmallString<32> CacheDir;
+  ASSERT_NO_ERROR(
+      sys::fs::createUniqueDirectory("debuginfod-unittest", CacheDir));
+  sys::path::append(CacheDir, "cachedir");
+  ASSERT_FALSE(sys::fs::exists(CacheDir));
+  setenv("DEBUGINFOD_CACHE_PATH", CacheDir.c_str(),
          /*replace=*/1);
   // Ensure there are no urls to guarantee a cache miss.
   setenv("DEBUGINFOD_URLS", "", /*replace=*/1);
@@ -52,4 +64,6 @@
   Expected<std::string> PathOrErr = getCachedOrDownloadArtifact(
       /*UniqueKey=*/"nonexistent-key", /*UrlPath=*/"/null");
   EXPECT_THAT_EXPECTED(PathOrErr, Failed<StringError>());
+  // A cache miss with no possible URLs should not create the cache directory.
+  EXPECT_FALSE(sys::fs::exists(CacheDir));
 }