diff --git a/coreutils/ls.c b/coreutils/ls.c
index 9a1264e65..48f5eb482 100644
--- a/coreutils/ls.c
+++ b/coreutils/ls.c
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ static NOINLINE unsigned display_single(const struct dnode *dn)
 	if (opt & OPT_l) {
 		/* long listing: show mode */
 		char modestr[12];
-		column += printf("%-10s ", (char *) bb_mode_string(modestr, dn->dn_mode));
+		column += printf("%-10s ", bb_mode_string(modestr, dn->dn_mode));
 		/* long listing: show number of links */
 		column += printf("%4lu ", (long) dn->dn_nlink);
 		/* long listing: show user/group */
diff --git a/include/libbb.h b/include/libbb.h
index b0312e5d4..dfcaa05ec 100644
--- a/include/libbb.h
+++ b/include/libbb.h
@@ -440,9 +440,8 @@ void *xmmap_anon(size_t size) FAST_FUNC;
 # define cached_pagesize(var) (var)
 #endif
 
-
-//TODO: supply a pointer to char[11] buffer (avoid statics)?
-extern char *bb_mode_string(char buf[12], mode_t mode) FAST_FUNC;
+/* Generate ls-style "mode string" like "-rwsr-xr-x" or "drwxrwxrwt" */
+extern char *bb_mode_string(char buf[11], mode_t mode) FAST_FUNC;
 extern int is_directory(const char *name, int followLinks) FAST_FUNC;
 enum {	/* cp.c, mv.c, install.c depend on these values. CAREFUL when changing them! */
 	FILEUTILS_PRESERVE_STATUS = 1 << 0, /* -p */
diff --git a/libbb/mode_string.c b/libbb/mode_string.c
index 8c12b4684..52abe66f7 100644
--- a/libbb/mode_string.c
+++ b/libbb/mode_string.c
@@ -16,16 +16,18 @@
 #error permission bitflag value assumption(s) violated!
 #endif
 
+/* Generate ls-style "mode string" like "-rwsr-xr-x" or "drwxrwxrwt" */
+
 #if ( S_IFSOCK!= 0140000 ) || ( S_IFLNK != 0120000 ) \
  || ( S_IFREG != 0100000 ) || ( S_IFBLK != 0060000 ) \
  || ( S_IFDIR != 0040000 ) || ( S_IFCHR != 0020000 ) \
  || ( S_IFIFO != 0010000 )
-#warning mode type bitflag value assumption(s) violated! falling back to larger version
+# warning mode type bitflag value assumption(s) violated! falling back to larger version
 
-#if (S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO | S_ISUID | S_ISGID | S_ISVTX) == 07777
-#undef mode_t
-#define mode_t unsigned short
-#endif
+# if (S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO | S_ISUID | S_ISGID | S_ISVTX) == 07777
+#  undef mode_t
+#  define mode_t unsigned short
+# endif
 
 static const mode_t mode_flags[] ALIGN4 = {
 	S_IRUSR, S_IWUSR, S_IXUSR, S_ISUID,
@@ -33,17 +35,13 @@ static const mode_t mode_flags[] ALIGN4 = {
 	S_IROTH, S_IWOTH, S_IXOTH, S_ISVTX
 };
 
-/* The static const char arrays below are duplicated for the two cases
- * because moving them ahead of the mode_flags declaration cause a text
- * size increase with the gcc version I'm using. */
-
 /* The previous version used "0pcCd?bB-?l?s???".  However, the '0', 'C',
  * and 'B' types don't appear to be available on linux.  So I removed them. */
 static const char type_chars[16] ALIGN1 = "?pc?d?b?-?l?s???";
 /***************************************** 0123456789abcdef */
 static const char mode_chars[7] ALIGN1 = "rwxSTst";
 
-char* FAST_FUNC bb_mode_string(char buf[12], mode_t mode)
+char* FAST_FUNC bb_mode_string(char buf[11], mode_t mode)
 {
 	char *p = buf;
 
@@ -79,7 +77,7 @@ static const char type_chars[16] ALIGN1 = "?pc?d?b?-?l?s???";
 /***************************************** 0123456789abcdef */
 static const char mode_chars[7] ALIGN1 = "rwxSTst";
 
-char* FAST_FUNC bb_mode_string(char buf[12], mode_t mode)
+char* FAST_FUNC bb_mode_string(char buf[11], mode_t mode)
 {
 	char *p = buf;