diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a0285365836273c28e0c655c9c935d85138d7ee2..c3fec85c31a0a7f881fce308d58f456406048445 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -194,7 +194,10 @@ class Options(object):
 
 options = Options()
 
-args = list(sys.argv)
+if os.getenv('WEBOOB_SETUP'):
+    args = os.getenv('WEBOOB_SETUP').split()
+else:
+    args = sys.argv[1:]
 if '--hildon' in args and '--no-hildon' in args:
     print('--hildon and --no-hildon options are incompatible', file=sys.stderr)
     sys.exit(1)
@@ -231,6 +234,6 @@ class Options(object):
     options.deps = False
     args.remove('--nodeps')
 
-sys.argv = args
+sys.argv = [sys.argv[0]] + args
 
 install_weboob()