diff --git a/fossils.py b/fossils.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 7a5e84d1bfcb8dcfdbc808dba2273f3073fb6325..7fefe953fe473739c8aacbd80c0330b04ff4439e
--- a/fossils.py
+++ b/fossils.py
@@ -286,6 +286,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     os.environ['OMP_NUM_THREADS'] = str(args.k)
     cxxfem.set_num_threads(args.k)
 
+    __file__ = os.path.abspath(__file__) # relative path on Linux with python <=3.8
+
     # display env variables
     try:
         print(f"OMP_NUM_THREADS={os.environ['OMP_NUM_THREADS']}")