diff --git a/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py b/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py
index af4a7b9..336c420 100644
--- a/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py
+++ b/IPython/zmq/zmqshell.py
@@ -1,8 +1,27 @@
+"""A ZMQ-based subclass of InteractiveShell.
+
+This code is meant to ease the refactoring of the base InteractiveShell into
+something with a cleaner architecture for 2-process use, without actually
+breaking InteractiveShell itself.  So we're doing something a bit ugly, where
+we subclass and override what we want to fix.  Once this is working well, we
+can go back to the base class and refactor the code for a cleaner inheritance
+implementation that doesn't rely on so much monkeypatching.
+
+But this lets us maintain a fully working IPython as we develop the new
+machinery.  This should thus be thought of as scaffolding.
+"""
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Imports
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Stdlib
 import inspect
+import os
 import re
 import sys
+
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
+# Our own
 from IPython.core.interactiveshell import (
     InteractiveShell, InteractiveShellABC
 )
@@ -16,9 +35,16 @@ from IPython.zmq.session import extract_header
 from IPython.core.payloadpage import install_payload_page
 from session import Session
 
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Globals and side-effects
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 # Install the payload version of page.
 install_payload_page()
 
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Functions and classes
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 class ZMQDisplayHook(DisplayHook):
 
@@ -351,6 +377,10 @@ class ZMQInteractiveShell(InteractiveShell):
             filename = self.shell.mktempfile(data)
             print 'IPython will make a temporary file named:',filename
 
+        # Make sure we send to the client an absolute path, in case the working
+        # directory of client and kernel don't match
+        filename = os.path.abspath(filename)
+
         payload = {
             'source' : 'IPython.zmq.zmqshell.ZMQInteractiveShell.edit_magic',
             'filename' : filename,