diff --git a/client/asink.go b/client/asink.go
index 87a366c..78de1cf 100644
--- a/client/asink.go
+++ b/client/asink.go
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ func ProcessLocalEvent(globals AsinkGlobals, event *asink.Event) {
 			panic(err)
 		}
 
+		fileinfo, err := os.Stat(event.Path)
+		if err != nil && !util.ErrorFileNotFound(err) {
+			panic(err)
+		}
+		event.Permissions = fileinfo.Mode()
+
 		//get the file's hash
 		hash, err := HashFile(tmpfilename)
 		event.Hash = hash
@@ -207,6 +213,12 @@ func ProcessRemoteEvent(globals AsinkGlobals, event *asink.Event) {
 				panic(err)
 			}
 		}
+		if latestLocal == nil || event.Permissions != latestLocal.Permissions {
+			err := os.Chmod(event.Path, event.Permissions)
+			if err != nil && !util.ErrorFileNotFound(err) {
+				panic(err)
+			}
+		}
 	} else {
 		//intentionally ignore errors in case this file has been deleted out from under us
 		os.Remove(event.Path)
diff --git a/events.go b/events.go
index c310d4a..7b37e83 100644
--- a/events.go
+++ b/events.go
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 package asink
 
+import (
+	"os"
+)
+
 //event type
 type EventType uint32
 
@@ -34,7 +38,7 @@ type Event struct {
 	Hash        string
 	Predecessor string
 	Timestamp   int64
-	Permissions uint32
+	Permissions os.FileMode
 	InDB        bool `json:"-"` //defaults to false. Omitted from json marshalling.
 }