diff --git a/k4FWCore/scripts/k4run b/k4FWCore/scripts/k4run
index 9427ef86..6c480288 100755
--- a/k4FWCore/scripts/k4run
+++ b/k4FWCore/scripts/k4run
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ seen_files = set()
 option_db = {}
 
 def load_file(file):
-  exec(file.read())
+  exec(file.read(), {})
 
 
 def add_arguments(parser, app_mgr):
diff --git a/test/k4FWCoreTest/CMakeLists.txt b/test/k4FWCoreTest/CMakeLists.txt
index 707acc07..fafa3201 100644
--- a/test/k4FWCoreTest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/k4FWCoreTest/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -177,3 +177,8 @@ add_test(NAME Testk4runHelpOnly
 set_test_env(Testk4runHelpOnly)
 set_tests_properties(Testk4runHelpOnly
   PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "show this help message and exit")
+
+add_test(NAME TestExec
+         WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}
+         COMMAND ${K4RUN} --dry-run options/TestExec.py)
+set_test_env(TestExec)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/k4FWCoreTest/options/TestExec.py b/test/k4FWCoreTest/options/TestExec.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..448bb3bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/k4FWCoreTest/options/TestExec.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+a = 5
+comp = [a for i in range(3)]
\ No newline at end of file