diff --git a/lib/fileutils.rb b/lib/fileutils.rb
index b527e89c0f..875ce50daf 100644
--- a/lib/fileutils.rb
+++ b/lib/fileutils.rb
@@ -917,11 +917,8 @@ module FileUtils
   private_module_function :apply_mask
 
   def symbolic_modes_to_i(mode_sym, path)  #:nodoc:
-    mode = if File::Stat === path
-             path.mode
-           else
-             File.stat(path).mode
-           end
+    path = File.stat(path) unless File::Stat === path
+    mode = path.mode
     mode_sym.split(/,/).inject(mode & 07777) do |current_mode, clause|
       target, *actions = clause.split(/([=+-])/)
       raise ArgumentError, "invalid file mode: #{mode_sym}" if actions.empty?
@@ -938,7 +935,7 @@ module FileUtils
           when "x"
             mask | 0111
           when "X"
-            if FileTest.directory? path
+            if path.directory?
               mask | 0111
             else
               mask
diff --git a/test/fileutils/test_fileutils.rb b/test/fileutils/test_fileutils.rb
index ca435ed1ff..82c6389558 100644
--- a/test/fileutils/test_fileutils.rb
+++ b/test/fileutils/test_fileutils.rb
@@ -1182,6 +1182,8 @@ class TestFileUtils < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_filemode 04500, 'tmp/j'
     install 'tmp/j', 'tmp/k', :mode => "+s"
     assert_filemode 06500, 'tmp/k'
+    install 'tmp/a', 'tmp/l', :mode => "o+X"
+    assert_filemode 0644, 'tmp/l'
   end if have_file_perm?
 
   def test_chmod