diff --git a/Lib/py_compile.py b/Lib/py_compile.py
index dc1cae98dd9..c0bc1e4eb82 100644
--- a/Lib/py_compile.py
+++ b/Lib/py_compile.py
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ def compile(file, cfile=None, dfile=None, doraise=False):
     try:
         codeobject = __builtin__.compile(codestring, dfile or file,'exec')
     except Exception,err:
-        py_exc = PyCompileError(err.__class__,err.args,dfile or file)
+        py_exc = PyCompileError(err.__class__, err, dfile or file)
         if doraise:
             raise py_exc
         else:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 79e350a497e..d03d7c638ae 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -208,6 +208,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #7842: backported fix for py_compile.compile() syntax error handling.
+
 - Issue #13153: Tkinter functions now raise TclError instead of ValueError when
   a unicode argument contains non-BMP character.