diff --git a/tools/wafadmin/Build.py b/tools/wafadmin/Build.py
index 10700ec20..07904868c 100644
--- a/tools/wafadmin/Build.py
+++ b/tools/wafadmin/Build.py
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ class BuildContext(Utils.Context):
 
 			try:
 				shutil.copy2(src, tgt)
-				os.chmod(tgt, chmod)
+				if chmod < 0: os.chmod(tgt, chmod)
 			except IOError:
 				try:
 					os.stat(src)
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index f72a33e37..3c5bda4ee 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -969,6 +969,20 @@ def build(bld):
   bld.install_files('${PREFIX}/bin/', 'tools/node-waf', chmod=0755)
   bld.install_files('${LIBDIR}/node/wafadmin', 'tools/wafadmin/*.py')
   bld.install_files('${LIBDIR}/node/wafadmin/Tools', 'tools/wafadmin/Tools/*.py')
+  install_npm(bld)
+
+def install_npm(bld):
+  start_dir = bld.path.find_dir('deps/npm')
+  # The chmod=-1 is a Node hack. We changed WAF so that when chmod was set to
+  # -1 that the same permission in this tree are used. Necessary to get
+  # npm-cli.js to be executable without having to list every file in NPM.
+  bld.install_files('${LIBDIR}/node_modules/npm',
+                    start_dir.ant_glob('**/*'),
+                    cwd=start_dir,
+                    relative_trick=True,
+                    chmod=0)
+  bld.symlink_as('${PREFIX}/bin/npm',
+                 '../lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js')
 
 def shutdown():
   Options.options.debug