diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 68c32e0f..958d21e6 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 xbps-0.39 (???):
 
+ * xbps-rindex: fix -a/--add mode to create repodata archives with 0664 permissions;
+   and do not create a new archive if the file cannot be open/locked, error out
+   instead... otherwise the file lock is ignored.
+
 xbps-0.38 (2014-09-14):
 
  * Disabled best pkg matching code for performance reasons. When installing
diff --git a/bin/xbps-rindex/index-add.c b/bin/xbps-rindex/index-add.c
index b04a2fc5..a61e4e5e 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-rindex/index-add.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-rindex/index-add.c
@@ -59,6 +59,12 @@ index_add(struct xbps_handle *xhp, int argc, char **argv, bool force)
 
 	repodir = dirname(tmprepodir);
 	repo = xbps_repo_open(xhp, repodir, true);
+	if (repo == NULL && errno != ENOENT) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "xbps-rindex: cannot open/lock repository "
+		    "%s: %s\n", repodir, strerror(errno));
+		rv = -1;
+		goto out;
+	}
 	if (repo && repo->idx) {
 		xbps_repo_open_idxfiles(repo);
 		idx = xbps_dictionary_copy(repo->idx);
diff --git a/bin/xbps-rindex/repoflush.c b/bin/xbps-rindex/repoflush.c
index f75c483f..f47961ee 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-rindex/repoflush.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-rindex/repoflush.c
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ repodata_flush(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *repodir,
 	struct archive *ar;
 	char *repofile, *tname, *buf;
 	int rv, repofd = -1;
-	mode_t myumask;
 
 	/* Create a tempfile for our repository archive */
 	repofile = xbps_repo_path(xhp, repodir);
@@ -95,9 +94,7 @@ repodata_flush(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *repodir,
 	/* Write data to tempfile and rename */
 	archive_write_finish(ar);
 	fdatasync(repofd);
-	myumask = umask(0);
-	(void)umask(myumask);
-	assert(fchmod(repofd, 0666 & ~myumask) != -1);
+	assert(fchmod(repofd, 0664) != -1);
 	close(repofd);
 	rename(tname, repofile);
 	free(repofile);