diff -urN automake-1.7.9.old/lib/am/distdir.am automake-1.7.9/lib/am/distdir.am
--- automake-1.7.9.old/lib/am/distdir.am	2003-06-04 21:23:26.000000000 +0200
+++ automake-1.7.9/lib/am/distdir.am	2010-02-16 14:04:04.000000000 +0100
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@
 ## the file in place in the source tree.
 ##
 if %?TOPDIR_P%
-	-find $(distdir) -type d ! -perm -777 -exec chmod a+rwx {} \; -o \
+	-find $(distdir) -type d ! -perm -755 -exec chmod u+rwx,go+rx {} \; -o \
 	  ! -type d ! -perm -444 -links 1 -exec chmod a+r {} \; -o \
 	  ! -type d ! -perm -400 -exec chmod a+r {} \; -o \
 	  ! -type d ! -perm -444 -exec $(SHELL) $(install_sh) -c -m a+r {} {} \; \
diff -urN automake-1.7.9.old/Makefile.in automake-1.7.9/Makefile.in
--- automake-1.7.9.old/Makefile.in	2010-02-16 14:02:50.000000000 +0100
+++ automake-1.7.9/Makefile.in	2010-02-16 14:03:42.000000000 +0100
@@ -472,7 +472,7 @@
 	$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) \
 	  top_distdir="$(top_distdir)" distdir="$(distdir)" \
 	  dist-info
-	-find $(distdir) -type d ! -perm -777 -exec chmod a+rwx {} \; -o \
+	-find $(distdir) -type d ! -perm -755 -exec chmod u+rwx,go+rx {} \; -o \
 	  ! -type d ! -perm -444 -links 1 -exec chmod a+r {} \; -o \
 	  ! -type d ! -perm -400 -exec chmod a+r {} \; -o \
 	  ! -type d ! -perm -444 -exec $(SHELL) $(install_sh) -c -m a+r {} {} \; \