diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/FilePath.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/FilePath.java
index c64e61f858..606f1b3da9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/FilePath.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/FilePath.java
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
  * The MIT License
  * 
  * Copyright (c) 2004-2010, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Kohsuke Kawaguchi,
- * Eric Lefevre-Ardant, Erik Ramfelt, Michael B. Donohue, Alan Harder
+ * Eric Lefevre-Ardant, Erik Ramfelt, Michael B. Donohue, Alan Harder,
+ * Manufacture Francaise des Pneumatiques Michelin, Romain Seguy
  * 
  * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
  * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
@@ -94,6 +95,8 @@ import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
 import java.util.zip.ZipInputStream;
 
 import com.sun.jna.Native;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Chmod;
 
 /**
  * {@link File} like object with remoting support.
@@ -1078,8 +1081,19 @@ public final class FilePath implements Serializable {
         if(!isUnix() || mask==-1)   return;
         act(new FileCallable<Void>() {
             public Void invoke(File f, VirtualChannel channel) throws IOException {
-                if(File.separatorChar=='/' && LIBC.chmod(f.getAbsolutePath(),mask)!=0)
-                    throw new IOException("Failed to chmod "+f+" : "+LIBC.strerror(Native.getLastError()));
+                try {
+                    if(File.separatorChar=='/' && LIBC.chmod(f.getAbsolutePath(),mask)!=0) {
+                        throw new IOException("Failed to chmod "+f+" : "+LIBC.strerror(Native.getLastError()));
+                    }
+                } catch(UnsatisfiedLinkError e) { // HUDSON-8155: use Ant's chmod task on non-GNU C systems
+                    LOGGER.warning("GNU C Library not available: Using Ant's chmod task instead.");
+                    Chmod chmodTask = new Chmod();
+                    chmodTask.setProject(new Project());
+                    chmodTask.setFile(f);
+                    chmodTask.setPerm(Integer.toOctalString(mask));
+                    chmodTask.execute();
+                }
+
                 return null;
             }
         });
@@ -1551,6 +1565,8 @@ public final class FilePath implements Serializable {
      * Reads from a tar stream and stores obtained files to the base dir.
      */
     private static void readFromTar(String name, File baseDir, InputStream in) throws IOException {
+        Chmod chmodTask = null; // HUDSON-8155
+
         TarInputStream t = new TarInputStream(in);
         try {
             TarEntry te;
@@ -1569,7 +1585,17 @@ public final class FilePath implements Serializable {
                         try {
                             LIBC.chmod(f.getPath(),mode);
                         } catch (NoClassDefFoundError e) {
-                            // be defensive. see http://www.nabble.com/-3.0.6--Site-copy-problem%3A-hudson.util.IOException2%3A--java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError%3A-Could-not-initialize-class--hudson.util.jna.GNUCLibrary-td23588879.html
+                            // be defensive: see http://hudson.361315.n4.nabble.com/3-0-6-Site-copy-problem-hudson-util-IOException2-java-lang-NoClassDefFoundError-Could-not-initializey-td382337.html
+                        } catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError ule) {
+                            // HUDSON-8155: use Ant's chmod task on non-GNU C systems
+                            if(chmodTask == null) {
+                                LOGGER.warning("GNU C Library not available: Using Ant's chmod task instead.");
+                                chmodTask = new Chmod();
+                            }
+                            chmodTask.setProject(new Project());
+                            chmodTask.setFile(f);
+                            chmodTask.setPerm(Integer.toOctalString(mode));
+                            chmodTask.execute();
                         }
                 }
             }
@@ -1877,6 +1903,8 @@ public final class FilePath implements Serializable {
 
     public static int SIDE_BUFFER_SIZE = 1024;
 
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(FilePath.class.getName());
+
     /**
      * Adapts {@link FileCallable} to {@link Callable}.
      */