diff --git a/Lib/test/test_osx_env.py b/Lib/test/test_osx_env.py
index 24ec2b4403d..d8eb981b64d 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_osx_env.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_osx_env.py
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ import sys
 import sysconfig
 import unittest
 
+@unittest.skipUnless(sys.platform == 'darwin' and
+                     sysconfig.get_config_var('WITH_NEXT_FRAMEWORK'),
+                     'unnecessary on this platform')
 class OSXEnvironmentVariableTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def _check_sys(self, ev, cond, sv, val = sys.executable + 'dummy'):
         with EnvironmentVarGuard() as evg:
@@ -27,9 +30,5 @@ class OSXEnvironmentVariableTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_pythonexecutable_sets_sys_executable(self):
         self._check_sys('PYTHONEXECUTABLE', '==', 'sys.executable')
 
-def test_main():
-    if sys.platform == 'darwin' and sysconfig.get_config_var('WITH_NEXT_FRAMEWORK'):
-        run_unittest(OSXEnvironmentVariableTestCase)
-
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    test_main()
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index bccc52b0563..b59a3257804 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -134,6 +134,9 @@ Tests
 - Issue #12820: add tests for the xml.dom.minicompat module.
   Patch by John Chandler and Phil Connell.
 
+- Issue #17779: test_osx_env now works with unittest test discovery.
+  Patch by Zachary Ware.
+
 - Issue #17766: test_iterlen now works with unittest test discovery.
   Patch by Zachary Ware.