diff --git a/jupyterhub/spawner.py b/jupyterhub/spawner.py
index 3d8311f3..6d0d2b9b 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/spawner.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/spawner.py
@@ -1383,3 +1383,52 @@ class LocalProcessSpawner(Spawner):
         if status is None:
             # it all failed, zombie process
             self.log.warning("Process %i never died", self.pid)
+
+
+class SimpleLocalProcessSpawner(LocalProcessSpawner):
+    """
+    A version of LocalProcessSpawner that doesn't require users to exist on
+    the system beforehand.
+
+    Only use this for testing.
+
+    Note: DO NOT USE THIS FOR PRODUCTION USE CASES! It is very insecure, and
+    provides absolutely no isolation between different users!
+    """
+
+    home_dir_template = Unicode(
+        '/tmp/{username}',
+        config=True,
+        help="""
+        Template to expand to set the user home.
+        {username} is expanded to the jupyterhub username.
+        """
+    )
+
+    home_dir = Unicode(help="The home directory for the user")
+    @default('home_dir')
+    def _default_home_dir(self):
+        return self.home_dir_template.format(
+            username=self.user.name,
+        )
+
+    def make_preexec_fn(self, name):
+        home = self.home_dir
+        def preexec():
+            try:
+                os.makedirs(home, 0o755, exist_ok=True)
+                os.chdir(home)
+            except Exception as e:
+                self.log.exception("Error in preexec for %s", name)
+        return preexec
+
+    def user_env(self, env):
+        env['USER'] = self.user.name
+        env['HOME'] = self.home_dir
+        env['SHELL'] = '/bin/bash'
+        return env
+
+    def move_certs(self, paths):
+        """No-op for installing certs"""
+        return paths
+
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
index b8749ba3..44205427 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/mocking.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ from ..app import JupyterHub
 from ..auth import PAMAuthenticator
 from .. import orm
 from ..objects import Server
-from ..spawner import LocalProcessSpawner
+from ..spawner import LocalProcessSpawner, SimpleLocalProcessSpawner
 from ..singleuser import SingleUserNotebookApp
 from ..utils import random_port, url_path_join
 from .utils import async_requests, ssl_setup
@@ -73,20 +73,14 @@ def mock_open_session(username, service, encoding):
     pass
 
 
-class MockSpawner(LocalProcessSpawner):
+class MockSpawner(SimpleLocalProcessSpawner):
     """Base mock spawner
 
     - disables user-switching that we need root permissions to do
     - spawns `jupyterhub.tests.mocksu` instead of a full single-user server
     """
-    def make_preexec_fn(self, *a, **kw):
-        # skip the setuid stuff
-        return
-
-    def _set_user_changed(self, name, old, new):
-        pass
-
     def user_env(self, env):
+        env = super().user_env(env)
         if self.handler:
             env['HANDLER_ARGS'] = self.handler.request.query
         return env
@@ -95,10 +89,6 @@ class MockSpawner(LocalProcessSpawner):
     def _cmd_default(self):
         return [sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub.tests.mocksu']
 
-    def move_certs(self, paths):
-        """Return the paths unmodified"""
-        return paths
-
     use_this_api_token = None
     def start(self):
         if self.use_this_api_token:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b085bce5..5b14fc37 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ setup_args = dict(
         'jupyterhub.spawners': [
             'default = jupyterhub.spawner:LocalProcessSpawner',
             'localprocess = jupyterhub.spawner:LocalProcessSpawner',
+            'simple = jupyterhub.spawner:SimpleLocalProcessSpawner',
         ],
     },
     classifiers         = [
diff --git a/spawners/__init__.py b/spawners/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index ef919810..00000000
--- a/spawners/__init__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-from .simplespawner import SimpleSpawner
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spawners/simplespawner.py b/spawners/simplespawner.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 8df323c9..00000000
--- a/spawners/simplespawner.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-import os
-from traitlets import Unicode
-
-from jupyterhub.spawner import LocalProcessSpawner
-
-
-class SimpleLocalProcessSpawner(LocalProcessSpawner):
-    """
-    A version of LocalProcessSpawner that doesn't require users to exist on
-    the system beforehand.
-
-    Note: DO NOT USE THIS FOR PRODUCTION USE CASES! It is very insecure, and
-    provides absolutely no isolation between different users!
-    """
-
-    home_path_template = Unicode(
-        '/tmp/{userid}',
-        config=True,
-        help='Template to expand to set the user home. {userid} and {username} are expanded'
-    )
-
-    @property
-    def home_path(self):
-        return self.home_path_template.format(
-            userid=self.user.id,
-            username=self.user.name
-        )
-
-    def make_preexec_fn(self, name):
-        home = self.home_path
-        def preexec():
-            try:
-                os.makedirs(home, 0o755, exist_ok=True)
-                os.chdir(home)
-            except e:
-                print(e)
-        return preexec
-
-    def user_env(self, env):
-        env['USER'] = self.user.name
-        env['HOME'] = self.home_path
-        env['SHELL'] = '/bin/bash'
-        return env
\ No newline at end of file