diff --git a/Mac/Tools/pythonw.c b/Mac/Tools/pythonw.c
index 7f45ca9ff62..08e069b03cb 100644
--- a/Mac/Tools/pythonw.c
+++ b/Mac/Tools/pythonw.c
@@ -149,6 +149,14 @@ int
 main(int argc, char **argv) {
     char* exec_path = get_python_path();
 
+    /*
+     * Let argv[0] refer to the new interpreter. This is needed to
+     * get the effect we want on OSX 10.5 or earlier. That is, without
+     * changing argv[0] the real interpreter won't have access to
+     * the Window Server.
+     */
+    argv[0] = exec_path;
+
 #ifdef HAVE_SPAWN_H
 
     /* We're weak-linking to posix-spawnv to ensure that
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 352ebf4e9ec..4e0b0d29486 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 - Issue #7079: Fix a possible crash when closing a file object while using it
   from another thread.  Patch by Daniel Stutzbach.
 
+- Issue #8868: Fix that ensures that python scripts have access to the 
+  Window Server again in a framework build on MacOSX 10.5 or earlier.
+
 C-API
 -----