diff --git a/lib/puppet/configurer/downloader.rb b/lib/puppet/configurer/downloader.rb
index 13424d6e1..c8554dcde 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/configurer/downloader.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/configurer/downloader.rb
@@ -1,71 +1,71 @@
 require 'puppet/configurer'
 require 'puppet/resource/catalog'
 
 class Puppet::Configurer::Downloader
   attr_reader :name, :path, :source, :ignore
 
   # Evaluate our download, returning the list of changed values.
   def evaluate
     Puppet.info "Retrieving #{name}"
 
     files = []
     begin
       ::Timeout.timeout(Puppet[:configtimeout]) do
         catalog.apply do |trans|
           trans.changed?.find_all do |resource|
             yield resource if block_given?
             files << resource[:path]
           end
         end
       end
     rescue Puppet::Error, Timeout::Error => detail
       Puppet.log_exception(detail, "Could not retrieve #{name}: #{detail}")
     end
 
     files
   end
 
-  def initialize(name, path, source, ignore = nil, environment = nil)
-    @name, @path, @source, @ignore, @environment = name, path, source, ignore, environment
+  def initialize(name, path, source, ignore = nil, environment = nil, source_permissions = :ignore)
+    @name, @path, @source, @ignore, @environment, @source_permissions = name, path, source, ignore, environment, source_permissions
   end
 
   def catalog
     catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.new("PluginSync", @environment)
     catalog.host_config = false
     catalog.add_resource(file)
     catalog
   end
 
   def file
     args = default_arguments.merge(:path => path, :source => source)
     args[:ignore] = ignore.split if ignore
     Puppet::Type.type(:file).new(args)
   end
 
   private
 
   require 'sys/admin' if Puppet.features.microsoft_windows?
 
   def default_arguments
     defargs = {
       :path => path,
       :recurse => true,
       :source => source,
-      :source_permissions => :ignore,
+      :source_permissions => @source_permissions,
       :tag => name,
       :purge => true,
       :force => true,
       :backup => false,
       :noop => false
     }
     if !Puppet.features.microsoft_windows?
       defargs.merge!(
         {
           :owner => Process.uid,
           :group => Process.gid
         }
       )
     end
     return defargs
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/puppet/configurer/plugin_handler.rb b/lib/puppet/configurer/plugin_handler.rb
index 2e14fdb3c..b8aeb95a5 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/configurer/plugin_handler.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/configurer/plugin_handler.rb
@@ -1,28 +1,29 @@
 # Break out the code related to plugins.  This module is
 # just included into the agent, but having it here makes it
 # easier to test.
 module Puppet::Configurer::PluginHandler
   # Retrieve facts from the central server.
   def download_plugins(environment)
     plugin_downloader = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new(
       "plugin",
       Puppet[:plugindest],
       Puppet[:pluginsource],
       Puppet[:pluginsignore],
       environment
     )
     if Puppet.features.external_facts?
        plugin_fact_downloader = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new(
           "pluginfacts",
           Puppet[:pluginfactdest],
           Puppet[:pluginfactsource],
           Puppet[:pluginsignore],
-          environment
+          environment,
+          :use
        )
        plugin_fact_downloader.evaluate
     end
 
     plugin_downloader.evaluate
     Puppet::Util::Autoload.reload_changed
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/configurer/downloader_spec.rb b/spec/unit/configurer/downloader_spec.rb
index 9e1d3a29b..3e9a2654e 100755
--- a/spec/unit/configurer/downloader_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/configurer/downloader_spec.rb
@@ -1,211 +1,217 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env ruby
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 require 'puppet/configurer/downloader'
 
 describe Puppet::Configurer::Downloader do
   require 'puppet_spec/files'
   include PuppetSpec::Files
   it "should require a name" do
     lambda { Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new }.should raise_error(ArgumentError)
   end
 
   it "should require a path and a source at initialization" do
     lambda { Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("name") }.should raise_error(ArgumentError)
   end
 
   it "should set the name, path and source appropriately" do
     dler = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("facts", "path", "source")
     dler.name.should == "facts"
     dler.path.should == "path"
     dler.source.should == "source"
   end
 
   describe "when creating the file that does the downloading" do
     before do
       @dler = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("foo", "path", "source")
     end
 
     it "should create a file instance with the right path and source" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:path] == "path" and opts[:source] == "source" }
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should tag the file with the downloader name" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:tag] == "foo" }
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should always recurse" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:recurse] == true }
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should always purge" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:purge] == true }
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should never be in noop" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:noop] == false }
       @dler.file
     end
 
-    it "should set source_permissions to ignore" do
+    it "should set source_permissions to ignore by default" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:source_permissions] == :ignore }
       @dler.file
     end
 
+    it "should allow source_permissions to be overridden" do
+      Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:source_permissions] == :use }
+
+      Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("foo", "path", "source", nil, nil, :use).file
+    end
+
     describe "on POSIX", :as_platform => :posix do
       it "should always set the owner to the current UID" do
         Process.expects(:uid).returns 51
         Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:owner] == 51 }
         @dler.file
       end
 
       it "should always set the group to the current GID" do
         Process.expects(:gid).returns 61
         Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:group] == 61 }
         @dler.file
       end
     end
 
     describe "on Windows", :as_platform => :windows do
       it "should omit the owner" do
         Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:owner] == nil }
         @dler.file
       end
 
       it "should omit the group" do
         Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:group] == nil }
         @dler.file
       end
     end
 
     it "should always force the download" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:force] == true }
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should never back up when downloading" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:backup] == false }
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should support providing an 'ignore' parameter" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:ignore] == [".svn"] }
       @dler = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("foo", "path", "source", ".svn")
       @dler.file
     end
 
     it "should split the 'ignore' parameter on whitespace" do
       Puppet::Type.type(:file).expects(:new).with { |opts| opts[:ignore] == %w{.svn CVS} }
       @dler = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("foo", "path", "source", ".svn CVS")
       @dler.file
     end
   end
 
   describe "when creating the catalog to do the downloading" do
     before do
       @path = make_absolute("/download/path")
       @dler = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("foo", @path, make_absolute("source"))
     end
 
     it "should create a catalog and add the file to it" do
       catalog = @dler.catalog
       catalog.resources.size.should == 1
       catalog.resources.first.class.should == Puppet::Type::File
       catalog.resources.first.name.should == @path
     end
 
     it "should specify that it is not managing a host catalog" do
       @dler.catalog.host_config.should == false
     end
 
   end
 
   describe "when downloading" do
     before do
       @dl_name = tmpfile("downloadpath")
       source_name = tmpfile("source")
       File.open(source_name, 'w') {|f| f.write('hola mundo') }
       env = Puppet::Node::Environment.remote('foo')
       @dler = Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.new("foo", @dl_name, source_name, Puppet[:pluginsignore], env)
     end
 
     it "should not skip downloaded resources when filtering on tags" do
       Puppet[:tags] = 'maytag'
       @dler.evaluate
 
       Puppet::FileSystem.exist?(@dl_name).should be_true
     end
 
     it "should log that it is downloading" do
       Puppet.expects(:info)
       Timeout.stubs(:timeout)
 
       @dler.evaluate
     end
 
     it "should set a timeout for the download using the `configtimeout` setting" do
       Puppet[:configtimeout] = 50
       Timeout.expects(:timeout).with(50)
 
       @dler.evaluate
     end
 
     it "should apply the catalog within the timeout block" do
       catalog = mock 'catalog'
       @dler.expects(:catalog).returns(catalog)
 
       Timeout.expects(:timeout).yields
 
       catalog.expects(:apply)
 
       @dler.evaluate
     end
 
     it "should return all changed file paths" do
       trans = mock 'transaction'
 
       catalog = mock 'catalog'
       @dler.expects(:catalog).returns(catalog)
       catalog.expects(:apply).yields(trans)
 
       Timeout.expects(:timeout).yields
 
       resource = mock 'resource'
       resource.expects(:[]).with(:path).returns "/changed/file"
 
       trans.expects(:changed?).returns([resource])
 
       @dler.evaluate.should == %w{/changed/file}
     end
 
     it "should yield the resources if a block is given" do
       trans = mock 'transaction'
 
       catalog = mock 'catalog'
       @dler.expects(:catalog).returns(catalog)
       catalog.expects(:apply).yields(trans)
 
       Timeout.expects(:timeout).yields
 
       resource = mock 'resource'
       resource.expects(:[]).with(:path).returns "/changed/file"
 
       trans.expects(:changed?).returns([resource])
 
       yielded = nil
       @dler.evaluate { |r| yielded = r }
       yielded.should == resource
     end
 
     it "should catch and log exceptions" do
       Puppet.expects(:err)
       Timeout.stubs(:timeout).raises(Puppet::Error, "testing")
 
       lambda { @dler.evaluate }.should_not raise_error
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/configurer/plugin_handler_spec.rb b/spec/unit/configurer/plugin_handler_spec.rb
index 295629481..8093fe708 100755
--- a/spec/unit/configurer/plugin_handler_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/configurer/plugin_handler_spec.rb
@@ -1,39 +1,39 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env ruby
 require 'spec_helper'
 require 'puppet/configurer'
 require 'puppet/configurer/plugin_handler'
 
 class PluginHandlerTester
   include Puppet::Configurer::PluginHandler
   attr_accessor :environment
 end
 
 describe Puppet::Configurer::PluginHandler do
   before do
     @pluginhandler = PluginHandlerTester.new
 
     # PluginHandler#load_plugin has an extra-strong rescue clause
     # this mock is to make sure that we don't silently ignore errors
     Puppet.expects(:err).never
   end
 
   it "should use an Agent Downloader, with the name, source, destination, ignore, and environment set correctly, to download plugins when downloading is enabled" do
     environment = Puppet::Node::Environment.create(:myenv, [])
     Puppet.features.stubs(:external_facts?).returns(:true)
     plugindest = File.expand_path("/tmp/pdest")
     Puppet[:pluginsource] = "psource"
     Puppet[:plugindest] = plugindest
     Puppet[:pluginsignore] = "pignore"
     Puppet[:pluginfactsource] = "psource"
     Puppet[:pluginfactdest] = plugindest
 
     downloader = mock 'downloader'
-    Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.expects(:new).with("pluginfacts", plugindest, "psource", "pignore", environment).returns downloader
+    Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.expects(:new).with("pluginfacts", plugindest, "psource", "pignore", environment, :use).returns downloader
     Puppet::Configurer::Downloader.expects(:new).with("plugin", plugindest, "psource", "pignore", environment).returns downloader
 
     downloader.stubs(:evaluate).returns([])
     downloader.expects(:evaluate).twice
 
     @pluginhandler.download_plugins(environment)
   end
 end