diff --git a/tools/wafadmin/Build.py b/tools/wafadmin/Build.py
index 07904868cee..675bca1c47e 100644
--- a/tools/wafadmin/Build.py
+++ b/tools/wafadmin/Build.py
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ class BuildContext(Utils.Context):
 
 			try:
 				shutil.copy2(src, tgt)
-				if chmod < 0: os.chmod(tgt, chmod)
+				if chmod >= 0: os.chmod(tgt, chmod)
 			except IOError:
 				try:
 					os.stat(src)
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index 3c5bda4ee26..eef883f6d8d 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -980,7 +980,7 @@ def install_npm(bld):
                     start_dir.ant_glob('**/*'),
                     cwd=start_dir,
                     relative_trick=True,
-                    chmod=0)
+                    chmod=-1)
   bld.symlink_as('${PREFIX}/bin/npm',
                  '../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js')