diff --git a/Lib/distutils/core.py b/Lib/distutils/core.py
index d180eb8cb66..001e74be47f 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/core.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/core.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class found in 'cmdclass' is used in place of the default, which is
         klass = Distribution
 
     if not attrs.has_key('script_name'):
-        attrs['script_name'] = sys.argv[0]
+        attrs['script_name'] = os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])
     if not attrs.has_key('script_args'):
         attrs['script_args'] = sys.argv[1:]