diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index 075d434af8..beaf66ac22 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@
 * Meteor accounts logins (or anything else using the `localstorage` package) no
   longer persist in IE7.
 
+* Don't lose permissions (eg, executable bit) on npm files.  #1808
+
 
 ## v0.7.0.1
 
diff --git a/tools/builder.js b/tools/builder.js
index f8209d0121..970bacbe68 100644
--- a/tools/builder.js
+++ b/tools/builder.js
@@ -345,7 +345,8 @@ _.extend(Builder.prototype, {
         var thisAbsFrom = path.resolve(absFrom, item);
         var thisRelTo = path.join(relTo, item);
 
-        var isDir = fs.statSync(thisAbsFrom).isDirectory();
+        var fileStatus = fs.statSync(thisAbsFrom);
+        var isDir = fileStatus.isDirectory();
         var itemForMatch = item;
         if (isDir)
           itemForMatch += '/';
@@ -362,7 +363,8 @@ _.extend(Builder.prototype, {
         // XXX avoid reading whole file into memory
         var data = fs.readFileSync(thisAbsFrom);
 
-        fs.writeFileSync(path.resolve(self.buildPath, thisRelTo), data);
+        fs.writeFileSync(path.resolve(self.buildPath, thisRelTo), data,
+                         { mode: fileStatus.mode });
         self.usedAsFile[thisRelTo] = true;
       });
     };
diff --git a/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/.gitignore b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4083037423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+local
diff --git a/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/packages b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/packages
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..51e2314a4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/packages
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Meteor packages used by this project, one per line.
+#
+# 'meteor add' and 'meteor remove' will edit this file for you,
+# but you can also edit it by hand.
+
+standard-app-packages
+npm-test
diff --git a/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/release b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/release
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..621e94f0ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/.meteor/release
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+none
diff --git a/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/packages/npm-test/npmtest.js b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/packages/npm-test/npmtest.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a1bf97a82e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/packages/npm-test/npmtest.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// This will execute a shell script, print its output, and process.exit(0).
+Npm.require('meteor-test-executable').doIt();
diff --git a/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/packages/npm-test/package.js b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/packages/npm-test/package.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..38dd3027d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tests/apps/npmtest/packages/npm-test/package.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Npm.depends({"meteor-test-executable": "0.0.1"});
+
+Package.on_use(function (api) {
+  api.add_files("npmtest.js", "server");
+});
diff --git a/tools/tests/npm.js b/tools/tests/npm.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f9998a6c53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/tests/npm.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+var selftest = require('../selftest.js');
+var Sandbox = selftest.Sandbox;
+var utils = require('../utils.js');
+var net = require('net');
+var Future = require('fibers/future');
+var _ = require('underscore');
+var files = require('../files.js');
+
+var MONGO_LISTENING =
+  { stdout: " [initandlisten] waiting for connections on port" };
+
+selftest.define("npm", ["net"], function () {
+  var s = new Sandbox({ fakeMongo: true });
+  var run;
+
+  s.createApp("npmtestapp", "npmtest");
+  s.cd("npmtestapp");
+
+  // Ensure that we don't lose the executable bits of npm modules.
+  // Regression test for https://github.com/meteor/meteor/pull/1808
+  // Before this fix, the module would work on the first execution but not on a
+  // subsequent one.
+  _.times(2, function (i) {
+    run = s.run("--once", "--raw-logs");
+    run.tellMongo(MONGO_LISTENING);
+    if (i === 0) {
+      run.waitSecs(2);
+      run.read(
+        "npm-test: updating npm dependencies -- meteor-test-executable...\n");
+    }
+    run.waitSecs(15);
+    run.read("null; From shell script\n");
+    run.expectEnd();
+    run.expectExit(0);
+  });
+});