diff --git a/tests-clar/checkout/index.c b/tests-clar/checkout/index.c
index 982bf9ee5..a185aec44 100644
--- a/tests-clar/checkout/index.c
+++ b/tests-clar/checkout/index.c
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ void test_checkout_index__options_dir_modes(void)
 	struct stat st;
 	git_oid oid;
 	git_commit *commit;
+	mode_t um;
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_reference_name_to_id(&oid, g_repo, "refs/heads/dir"));
 	cl_git_pass(git_commit_lookup(&commit, g_repo, &oid));
@@ -240,12 +241,15 @@ void test_checkout_index__options_dir_modes(void)
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_index(g_repo, NULL, &opts));
 
+	/* umask will influence actual directory creation mode */
+	(void)p_umask(um = p_umask(022));
+
 	cl_git_pass(p_stat("./testrepo/a", &st));
-	cl_assert_equal_i(st.st_mode & 0777, 0701);
+	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(st.st_mode, GIT_FILEMODE_TREE | 0701 & ~um, "%07o");
 
 	/* File-mode test, since we're on the 'dir' branch */
 	cl_git_pass(p_stat("./testrepo/a/b.txt", &st));
-	cl_assert_equal_i(st.st_mode & 0777, 0755);
+	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(st.st_mode, GIT_FILEMODE_BLOB_EXECUTABLE, "%07o");
 
 	git_commit_free(commit);
 #endif
@@ -263,7 +267,7 @@ void test_checkout_index__options_override_file_modes(void)
 	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_index(g_repo, NULL, &opts));
 
 	cl_git_pass(p_stat("./testrepo/new.txt", &st));
-	cl_assert_equal_i(st.st_mode & 0777, 0700);
+	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(st.st_mode & 0777, 0700, "%07o");
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/tests-clar/clar_libgit2.h b/tests-clar/clar_libgit2.h
index 8c8357e40..080d32bea 100644
--- a/tests-clar/clar_libgit2.h
+++ b/tests-clar/clar_libgit2.h
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ void cl_git_report_failure(int, const char *, int, const char *);
 #define cl_assert_at_line(expr,file,line) \
 	clar__assert((expr) != 0, file, line, "Expression is not true: " #expr, NULL, 1)
 
-#define cl_assert_equal_sz(sz1,sz2) cl_assert_equal_i((int)sz1, (int)(sz2))
+#define cl_assert_equal_sz(sz1,sz2) clar__assert_equal(__FILE__,__LINE__,#sz1 " != " #sz2, 1, PRIuZ, (size_t)(sz1), (size_t)(sz2))
 
 GIT_INLINE(void) clar__assert_in_range(
 	int lo, int val, int hi,
diff --git a/tests-clar/repo/init.c b/tests-clar/repo/init.c
index 5076184b8..4d93f3d0e 100644
--- a/tests-clar/repo/init.c
+++ b/tests-clar/repo/init.c
@@ -10,10 +10,17 @@ enum repo_mode {
 };
 
 static git_repository *_repo = NULL;
+static mode_t _umask = 0;
 
 void test_repo_init__initialize(void)
 {
 	_repo = NULL;
+
+	/* load umask if not already loaded */
+	if (!_umask) {
+		_umask = p_umask(022);
+		(void)p_umask(_umask);
+	}
 }
 
 static void cleanup_repository(void *path)
@@ -377,14 +384,18 @@ static void assert_hooks_match(
 	cl_git_pass(git_buf_joinpath(&actual, repo_dir, hook_path));
 	cl_git_pass(git_path_lstat(actual.ptr, &st));
 
-	cl_assert(expected_st.st_size == st.st_size);
+	cl_assert_equal_sz(expected_st.st_size, st.st_size);
+
+	expected_st.st_mode =
+		(expected_st.st_mode & ~0777) |
+		(((expected_st.st_mode & 0111) ? 0100777 : 0100666) & ~_umask);
 
 	if (!core_filemode) {
 		expected_st.st_mode = expected_st.st_mode & ~0111;
 		st.st_mode = st.st_mode & ~0111;
 	}
 
-	cl_assert_equal_i((int)expected_st.st_mode, (int)st.st_mode);
+	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(expected_st.st_mode, st.st_mode, "%07o");
 
 	git_buf_free(&expected);
 	git_buf_free(&actual);