diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 5073d7e..56c21a5 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ See the end for copying conditions.
 
 Please send GNU Wget bug reports to <bug-wget@gnu.org>.
 
+* Changes in Wget X.Y.Z
+
+* On a recursive download, append a .tmp suffix to temporary files
+  that will be deleted after being parsed, and create them
+  readable/writable only by the owner.
+
 * Changes in Wget 1.18
 
 * By default, on server redirects to a FTP resource, use the original
diff --git a/src/http.c b/src/http.c
index 56b8669..3cafd1c 100644
--- a/src/http.c
+++ b/src/http.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ as that of the covered work.  */
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <time.h>
 #include <locale.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 
 #include "hash.h"
 #include "http.h"
@@ -1568,6 +1569,7 @@ struct http_stat
 #ifdef HAVE_METALINK
   metalink_t *metalink;
 #endif
+  bool temporary;               /* downloading a temporary file */
 };
 
 static void
@@ -2258,6 +2260,15 @@ check_file_output (struct url *u, struct http_stat *hs,
       xfree (local_file);
     }
 
+  hs->temporary = opt.delete_after || opt.spider || !acceptable (hs->local_file);
+  if (hs->temporary)
+    {
+      char *tmp = NULL;
+      asprintf (&tmp, "%s.tmp", hs->local_file);
+      xfree (hs->local_file);
+      hs->local_file = tmp;
+    }
+
   /* TODO: perform this check only once. */
   if (!hs->existence_checked && file_exists_p (hs->local_file))
     {
@@ -2471,7 +2482,15 @@ open_output_stream (struct http_stat *hs, int count, FILE **fp)
           open_id = 22;
           *fp = fopen (hs->local_file, "wb", FOPEN_OPT_ARGS);
 #else /* def __VMS */
-          *fp = fopen (hs->local_file, "wb");
+          if (hs->temporary)
+            {
+              *fp = fdopen (open (hs->local_file, O_BINARY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR), "wb");
+            }
+          else
+            {
+              *fp = fopen (hs->local_file, "wb");
+            }
+
 #endif /* def __VMS [else] */
         }
       else