diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in

index 68d236d..b7aa318 100644

--- a/Makefile.in

+++ b/Makefile.in

@@ -415,7 +415,8 @@ distdir: $(DISTFILES)

 	      || exit 1; \

 	  fi; \

 	done

-	-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 --git a/lib/am/distdir.am b/lib/am/distdir.am

index 151f5f0..b64b2de 100644

--- a/lib/am/distdir.am

+++ b/lib/am/distdir.am

@@ -192,11 +192,7 @@ if %?DIST-TARGETS%

 endif %?DIST-TARGETS%

 ##

 ## This complex find command will try to avoid changing the modes of

-## links into the source tree, in case they're hard-linked.  It will

-## also make directories writable by everybody, because some

-## brain-dead tar implementations change ownership and permissions of

-## a directory before extracting the files, thus becoming unable to

-## extract them.

+## links into the source tree, in case they're hard-linked.

 ##

 ## Ignore return result from chmod, because it might give an error

 ## if we chmod a symlink.

@@ -209,7 +205,8 @@ endif %?DIST-TARGETS%

 ## 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 {} {} \; \