diff --git a/flake8/compat.py b/flake8/compat.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bd00a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flake8/compat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+"""Compatibility shims for Flake8."""
+import os.path
+import sys
+
+
+def relpath(path, start='.'):
+    """Wallpaper over the differences between 2.6 and newer versions."""
+    if sys.version_info < (2, 7) and path.startswith(start):
+        return path[len(start):]
+    else:
+        return os.path.relpath(path, start=start)
diff --git a/flake8/hooks.py b/flake8/hooks.py
index e938632..659e5d4 100644
--- a/flake8/hooks.py
+++ b/flake8/hooks.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:   # Python 2
     from ConfigParser import ConfigParser
 
+from flake8 import compat
 from flake8.engine import get_parser, get_style_guide
 from flake8.main import DEFAULT_CONFIG
 
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ def git_hook(complexity=-1, strict=False, ignore=None, lazy=False):
             # avoid overwriting files with the same name
             dirname, filename = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(file_))
             prefix = os.path.commonprefix([dirname, tmpdir])
-            dirname = os.path.relpath(dirname, start=prefix)
+            dirname = compat.relpath(dirname, start=prefix)
             dirname = os.path.join(tmpdir, dirname)
             if not os.path.isdir(dirname):
                 os.makedirs(dirname)
diff --git a/flake8/tests/test_hooks.py b/flake8/tests/test_hooks.py
index 31fcd81..42293ed 100644
--- a/flake8/tests/test_hooks.py
+++ b/flake8/tests/test_hooks.py
@@ -35,3 +35,7 @@ class TestGitHook(unittest.TestCase):
         tmpdir = os.path.join('/fake/tmp', dirname[1:])
         tmpfile = os.path.join(tmpdir, 'bfile.py')
         style_guide.check_files.assert_called_once_with([tmpfile])
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()