diff --git a/steps/helpers.sh b/steps/helpers.sh
index c4836d6d..8ef96049 100755
--- a/steps/helpers.sh
+++ b/steps/helpers.sh
@@ -447,6 +447,20 @@ default_src_install() {
     make -f Makefile install PREFIX="${PREFIX}" DESTDIR="${DESTDIR}"
 }
 
+# Helper function for permissions
+_do_strip() {
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2124
+    local f="${@: -1}"
+    if ! [ -w "${f}" ]; then
+        local perms="$(stat -c %a "${f}")"
+        chmod u+w "${f}"
+    fi
+    strip "$@"
+    if [ -n "${perms}" ]; then
+        chmod "${perms}" "${f}"
+    fi
+}
+
 # Default function for postprocessing binaries.
 default_src_postprocess() {
     if (command -v find && command -v file && command -v strip) >/dev/null 2>&1; then
@@ -454,15 +468,15 @@ default_src_postprocess() {
         # shellcheck disable=SC2162
         find "${DESTDIR}" -type f | while read f; do
             case "$(file -bi "${f}")" in
-                application/x-executable*) strip "${f}" ;;
+                application/x-executable*) _do_strip "${f}" ;;
                 application/x-sharedlib*|application/x-pie-executable*)
                     machine_set="$(file -b "${f}")"
                     case "${machine_set}" in
                         *no\ machine*) ;; # don't strip ELF container-only
-                        *) strip --strip-unneeded "${f}" ;;
+                        *) _do_strip --strip-unneeded "${f}" ;;
                     esac
                     ;;
-                application/x-archive*) strip --strip-debug "${f}" ;;
+                application/x-archive*) _do_strip --strip-debug "${f}" ;;
             esac
         done
     fi
diff --git a/steps/perl-5.32.1/pass1.sh b/steps/perl-5.32.1/pass1.sh
index ef78d084..c834f45a 100755
--- a/steps/perl-5.32.1/pass1.sh
+++ b/steps/perl-5.32.1/pass1.sh
@@ -51,7 +51,4 @@ src_install() {
     # Improve reproducibility. hostcat might be empty or set to "cat /etc/hosts"
     # depending on whether /etc/hosts was available during the build.
     sed -i "s_^hostcat='.*'\$_hostcat=''_g" "${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/lib/perl5/5.32.1/i386-linux/Config_heavy.pl"
-
-    # There are strange permissions on installed files.
-    find "${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/lib" -type f  -exec chmod 644 {} \;
 }
diff --git a/steps/perl-5.8.9/pass1.sh b/steps/perl-5.8.9/pass1.sh
index feed0656..29564c39 100755
--- a/steps/perl-5.8.9/pass1.sh
+++ b/steps/perl-5.8.9/pass1.sh
@@ -80,7 +80,4 @@ src_install() {
 
     # Remove messed up manpages
     rm "${DESTDIR}/"*.0
-
-    # There are strange permissions on installed files.
-    find "${DESTDIR}${PREFIX}/lib" -type f  -exec chmod 644 {} \;
 }