Reading and setting file permissions programmatically

[MRAB]

Cameron Pulsford wrote:
> Sorry to flood the list but my google fu isn't up to par today I guess.
> 
> Basically, is it possible to read the permissions on one file and then 
> set the permissions of another file to the ones we just read? os.dup2 
> seemed like it would work but I might not be using it correctly.
> 
> I know there is os.chmod, but I haven't found the equivalent to read 
> permissions. Preferably this would work on unix and windows too.
> 
os.stat(path).st_mode