diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 45f40f01..0a7b2546 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -319,6 +319,8 @@ GCC_VISIBILITY_CC
 
 # Host-dependant definitions
 INODECMD="stat -c '%i %n'"
+OWNERCMD="stat -c '%u:%g'"
+MODECMD="stat -c '%a'"
 SIZECMD="stat -c %s"
 SEDINPLACE="sed --follow-symlinks -i"
 DUFLAGS="-sk --apparent-size"
@@ -328,6 +330,8 @@ STRIP_STATIC="--strip-debug"
 case "${host_os}" in
 	*bsd*)
 		INODECMD="stat -f '%i %N'"
+		OWNERCMD="stat -f '%u:%g'"
+		MODECMD="stat -f '%Lp'"
 		SIZECMD="stat -f %z"
 		SEDINPLACE="sed -i \"\""
 		DUFLAGS="-sk"
@@ -335,6 +339,8 @@ case "${host_os}" in
 	darwin*)
 		host_os_darwin=yes
 		INODECMD="/usr/bin/stat -f '%i %N'"
+		OWNERCMD="/usr/bin/stat -f '%u:%g'"
+		MODECMD="/usr/bin/stat -f '%Lp'"
 		SIZECMD="/usr/bin/stat -f %z"
 		SEDINPLACE="/usr/bin/sed -i ''"
 		DUFLAGS="-sk"
@@ -347,6 +353,8 @@ esac
 AM_CONDITIONAL([DARWIN], test "x$host_os_darwin" = "xyes")
 AC_PATH_PROGS([DUPATH], [du], [du], [/usr/bin$PATH_SEPARATOR/bin] )
 AC_SUBST(INODECMD)
+AC_SUBST(OWNERCMD)
+AC_SUBST(MODECMD)
 AC_SUBST(SIZECMD)
 AC_SUBST(SEDINPLACE)
 AC_SUBST(DUFLAGS)
@@ -528,6 +536,8 @@ ${PACKAGE_NAME}:
     Architecture           : ${CARCH}
     Host Type              : ${CHOST}
     File inode command     : ${INODECMD}
+    File owner command     : ${OWNERCMD}
+    File mode command      : ${MODECMD}
     Filesize command       : ${SIZECMD}
     In-place sed command   : ${SEDINPLACE}
 
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.am b/scripts/Makefile.am
index bc1dc10c..4ef3ce0e 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.am
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.am
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ edit = sed \
 	-e 's|@TEMPLATE_DIR[@]|$(TEMPLATE_DIR)|g' \
 	-e 's|@DEBUGSUFFIX[@]|$(DEBUGSUFFIX)|g' \
 	-e "s|@INODECMD[@]|$(INODECMD)|g" \
+	-e "s|@OWNERCMD[@]|$(OWNERCMD)|g" \
+	-e "s|@MODECMD[@]|$(MODECMD)|g" \
 	-e 's|@SIZECMD[@]|$(SIZECMD)|g' \
 	-e 's|@SEDINPLACE[@]|$(SEDINPLACE)|g' \
 	-e 's|@DUFLAGS[@]|$(DUFLAGS)|g' \
diff --git a/scripts/pacman-optimize.sh.in b/scripts/pacman-optimize.sh.in
index 93742695..7c809193 100644
--- a/scripts/pacman-optimize.sh.in
+++ b/scripts/pacman-optimize.sh.in
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ msg "$(gettext "Rotating database into place...")"
 fail=0
 mv "$localdb" "$localdb.old" || fail=1
 mv "$localdb.new" "$localdb" || fail=1
-chmod --reference="$localdb.old" "$localdb" || fail=1
-chown --reference="$localdb.old" "$localdb" || fail=1
+chmod $(@MODECMD@ "$localdb.old") "$localdb" || fail=1
+chown $(@OWNERCMD@ "$localdb.old") "$localdb" || fail=1
 if (( fail )); then
 	# failure with our directory shuffle
 	die_r "$(gettext "New database substitution failed. Check for %s, %s, and %s directories.")" "$localdb" "$localdb.old" "$localdb.new"