diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
index c10e973ed73..e0f1e93768f 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
@@ -336,10 +336,13 @@ def test_make_distribution_owner_group(self):
         # making sure we have the good rights
         archive_name = join(self.tmp_dir, 'dist', 'fake-1.0.tar.gz')
         archive = tarfile.open(archive_name)
+
+        # note that we are not testing the group ownership here
+        # because, depending on the platforms and the container
+        # rights (see #7408)
         try:
             for member in archive.getmembers():
                 self.assertEquals(member.uid, os.getuid())
-                self.assertEquals(member.gid, os.getgid())
         finally:
             archive.close()
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 4efc4790745..96fbbce89df 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ C-API
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #7408: Fixed distutils.tests.sdist so it doesn't check for group
+  ownership when the group is not forced, because the group may be different
+  from the user's group and inherit from its container when the test is run.
+
 - Issue #4486: When an exception has an explicit cause, do not print its
   implicit context too.  This affects the `traceback` module as well as
   built-in exception printing.