diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cb22cc7..aa1754e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ backfill releases from before this changelog.
 - Preserve historical selections and store-fault messages through graph refresh and resize.
 - Show hourly drill-down results without overwriting them with a loading placeholder.
 - Keep known unallocated daily volume visible across coverage gaps, and distinguish missing hourly evidence from zero on small terminals.
+- Stage package directories with consistent public permissions, avoiding openSUSE RPM conflicts and inaccessible runtime paths when built with a restrictive umask.
 
 ## [0.4.0] - 2026-09-18
 
diff --git a/packaging/stage.sh b/packaging/stage.sh
index 8b5eb6e..bf28e10 100755
--- a/packaging/stage.sh
+++ b/packaging/stage.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@
 #   /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/fenris.conf
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# Package directories must be traversable by every runtime user and agree
+# with distribution-owned directories, regardless of the builder's umask.
+umask 022
+
 REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
 STAGE_DIR="${REPO_ROOT}/build/stage"
 
diff --git a/tests/test_package_stage.py b/tests/test_package_stage.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b8cb85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_package_stage.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+"""Package directory permissions must not inherit a builder's private umask."""
+import os
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("mask", ["077", "022"])
+def test_stage_is_publicly_traversable_under_any_builder_umask(tmp_path, mask):
+    root = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+    for directory in ("packaging", "scripts", "src", "units", "polkit"):
+        shutil.copytree(root / directory, tmp_path / directory,
+                        ignore=shutil.ignore_patterns("__pycache__", "*.egg-info"))
+    for filename in ("LICENSE", "requirements.txt"):
+        shutil.copy(root / filename, tmp_path / filename)
+    (tmp_path / "dist").mkdir()
+    (tmp_path / "dist/fenris-9.9.9-py3-none-any.whl").touch()
+    bin_dir = tmp_path / "bin"
+    bin_dir.mkdir()
+    # Avoid downloading dependencies: emulate pip's target output while
+    # exercising the real staging script and its package directory layout.
+    pip_stub = bin_dir / "python3"
+    pip_stub.write_text(
+        f"#!{sys.executable}\n"
+        "import sys\nfrom pathlib import Path\n"
+        "target = Path(sys.argv[sys.argv.index('--target') + 1]) / 'fenris'\n"
+        "target.mkdir(parents=True)\n"
+        "(target / '__init__.py').write_text('')\n"
+    )
+    pip_stub.chmod(0o755)
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["bash", "-c", f"umask {mask}; exec bash packaging/stage.sh 9.9.9"],
+        cwd=tmp_path, env={**os.environ, "PATH": str(bin_dir) + os.pathsep + os.environ["PATH"]},
+        check=True, capture_output=True, text=True,
+    )
+    stage = tmp_path / "build/stage"
+    for directory in (stage, *(p for p in stage.rglob("*") if p.is_dir())):
+        assert directory.stat().st_mode & 0o777 == 0o755, directory
+    assert (stage / "usr/bin/fenris").stat().st_mode & 0o777 == 0o755
+    assert (stage / "opt/fenris/vendor/fenris/__init__.py").stat().st_mode & 0o444 == 0o444