'python somefile.py' sets main.__file__ to 'somefile.py'. 'python' leaves __file__ unset.  If PYTHONSTARTUP is set to somefile.py, 'python' executes somefile.py in main with __file__ set to 'somefile.py', then unsets __file__ before the >>> prompt, as if somefile has not been executed.  Any explicit setting of __file__ in somefile is undone.

tem2.py:
print(name, __file__)
__file__ = 'abc.py'

> F:\dev\3x> set PYTHONSTARTUP=f:/python/a/tem2.py
> F:\dev\3x> python
...
__main__ f:/python/a/tem2.py
>>> __file__
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name '__file__' is not defined

With IDLE, when 'python -m idlelib.idle' is run with '-s' or '-r f:/python/a/tem2.py', NameError is raised for the print in tem2.py. This was reported this SO question.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49054093/cannot-use-file-when-opening-module-in-idle

In both cases, the file is run with execfile(filename).

    def execfile(self, filename, source=None):
        "Execute an existing file"
        if source is None:
            with tokenize.open(filename) as fp:
                source = fp.read()

My guess is that wrapping the source with f"__file__ = {filename}\n" and "del __file__\n" should work.

When the IDLE GUI process is started, its main.__file__ is set to the idlelib .py file used to start the process.  If IDLE is started with -n, so that user code is run in the same process (the original mode), the -r or -s startup file and code entered at >>> sees this value*, rather than the user startup file name or a NameError.

• I am not sure why it does not see the value of __file__ in the pyshell module, which I would expect to be '.../idlelib/pyshell.py'.

The change proposed above would fix __file__ for -n also, but would disable any subsequently executed idle code that uses __file__ that gets unset. So I think the wrapping should be conditioned on use_subprocess (True unless -n).

Revised, more exact, URL:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49054093/cannot-use-file-when-running-startup-file-in-idles-normal-mode

With the PR, IDLE behaves the same as Python on Windows.
   .../3x> python -m idlelib -r f:/python/a/tem2.py
(see original post for content of tem2.py)
prints __file__ instead of raising NameError, while
  >>> __file__ continues to raise NameError

Cheryl, I really expect the PR to work on linux, but can you manually test it anyway? If you think the blurb needs rst markup and feel like adding some, go ahead.

The change works on Linux with the patch (and gave a NameError without the patch). I left a note on the PR for a possible SyntaxError.

I didn't have authority to push the blurb markup change to your branch, so I copied it into a comment. If you click edit on it, you should be able to cut and paste it as is into the blurb file.

New changeset 22c82be by Terry Jan Reedy in branch 'master':
bpo-32984: IDLE - set __file__ for startup files (GH-5981)
22c82be

New changeset fd340bf by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.7':
bpo-32984: IDLE - set __file__ for startup files (GH-5981)
fd340bf

New changeset 6935a51 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.6':
bpo-32984: IDLE - set __file__ for startup files (GH-5981)
6935a51