--- a/eric6/DebugClients/Python/DebugClientBase.py	Sat Feb 08 16:48:44 2020 +0100
+++ b/eric6/DebugClients/Python/DebugClientBase.py	Mon Feb 10 18:41:37 2020 +0100
@@ -2053,16 +2053,14 @@
         self.__interceptSignals()
         
         # This will eventually enter a local event loop.
-        # Note the use of backquotes to cause a repr of self.running. The
-        # need for this is on Windows os where backslash is the path separator.
-        # They will get inadvertantly stripped away during the eval causing
-        # IOErrors if self.running is passed as a normal str.
         self.debugMod.__dict__['__file__'] = self.running
         sys.modules['__main__'] = self.debugMod
-        res = self.mainThread.run(
-            'exec(open(' + repr(self.running) + ').read())',
-            self.debugMod.__dict__)
-        self.progTerminated(res)
+        code = self.__compileFileSource(self.running)
+        if code:
+            res = self.mainThread.run(code, self.debugMod.__dict__, debug=True)
+            self.progTerminated(res)
+        else:
+            self.progTerminated(42)     # should not happen
 
     def run_call(self, scriptname, func, *args):
         """