diff --git a/libutil/mkdirp.c b/libutil/mkdirp.c
index 2ef94a3..c3c678c 100644
--- a/libutil/mkdirp.c
+++ b/libutil/mkdirp.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #include "../util.h"
 
 int
-mkdirp(const char *path)
+mkdirp(const char *path, mode_t mode, mode_t pmode)
 {
 	char tmp[PATH_MAX], *p;
 	struct stat st;
@@ -25,13 +25,13 @@ mkdirp(const char *path)
 		if (*p != '/')
 			continue;
 		*p = '\0';
-		if (mkdir(tmp, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO) < 0 && errno != EEXIST) {
+		if (mkdir(tmp, pmode) < 0 && errno != EEXIST) {
 			weprintf("mkdir %s:", tmp);
 			return -1;
 		}
 		*p = '/';
 	}
-	if (mkdir(tmp, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO) < 0 && errno != EEXIST) {
+	if (mkdir(tmp, mode) < 0 && errno != EEXIST) {
 		weprintf("mkdir %s:", tmp);
 		return -1;
 	}
diff --git a/mkdir.c b/mkdir.c
index 3e32d90..3e20b1a 100644
--- a/mkdir.c
+++ b/mkdir.c
@@ -15,17 +15,18 @@ usage(void)
 int
 main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
-	mode_t mode = 0, mask;
-	int pflag = 0, mflag = 0, ret = 0;
+	mode_t mode, mask;
+	int pflag = 0, ret = 0;
+
+	mask = umask(0);
+	mode = 0777 & ~mask;
 
 	ARGBEGIN {
 	case 'p':
 		pflag = 1;
 		break;
 	case 'm':
-		mflag = 1;
-		mask = getumask();
-		mode = parsemode(EARGF(usage()), mode, mask);
+		mode = parsemode(EARGF(usage()), 0777, mask);
 		break;
 	default:
 		usage();
@@ -36,16 +37,12 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	for (; *argv; argc--, argv++) {
 		if (pflag) {
-			if (mkdirp(*argv) < 0)
+			if (mkdirp(*argv, mode, 0777 & (~mask | 0300)) < 0)
 				ret = 1;
-		} else if (mkdir(*argv, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO) < 0) {
+		} else if (mkdir(*argv, mode) < 0) {
 			weprintf("mkdir %s:", *argv);
 			ret = 1;
 		}
-		if (mflag && chmod(*argv, mode) < 0) {
-			weprintf("chmod %s:", *argv);
-			ret = 1;
-		}
 	}
 
 	return ret;
diff --git a/tar.c b/tar.c
index d2161d4..f213039 100644
--- a/tar.c
+++ b/tar.c
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ unarchive(char *fname, ssize_t l, char b[BLKSIZ])
 		weprintf("remove %s:", fname);
 
 	tmp = estrdup(fname);
-	mkdirp(dirname(tmp));
+	mkdirp(dirname(tmp), 0777, 0777);
 	free(tmp);
 
 	switch (h->type) {
diff --git a/util.h b/util.h
index b5860dc..29325d2 100644
--- a/util.h
+++ b/util.h
@@ -75,6 +75,6 @@ long long strtonum(const char *, long long, long long, const char **);
 long long enstrtonum(int, const char *, long long, long long);
 long long estrtonum(const char *, long long, long long);
 size_t unescape(char *);
-int mkdirp(const char *);
+int mkdirp(const char *, mode_t, mode_t);
 #undef memmem
 void *memmem(const void *, size_t, const void *, size_t);