diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 311c96c8ea..554f8325a7 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ answer newbie questions, and generally made Django that much better:
     Vasiliy Stavenko <stavenko@gmail.com>
     Thomas Steinacher <http://www.eggdrop.ch/>
     nowell strite
+    Thomas Stromberg <tstromberg@google.com>
     Sundance
     SuperJared
     Radek Švarz <http://www.svarz.cz/translate/>
diff --git a/django/core/management/base.py b/django/core/management/base.py
index 173850716c..978aa7902a 100644
--- a/django/core/management/base.py
+++ b/django/core/management/base.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.core.management.color import color_style
 import sys
+import os
 
 class CommandError(Exception):
     pass
@@ -121,7 +122,6 @@ class NoArgsCommand(BaseCommand):
 
 def copy_helper(style, app_or_project, name, directory, other_name=''):
     import django
-    import os
     import re
     import shutil
     other = {'project': 'app', 'app': 'project'}[app_or_project]
@@ -157,5 +157,15 @@ def copy_helper(style, app_or_project, name, directory, other_name=''):
             fp_new.close()
             try:
                 shutil.copymode(path_old, path_new)
+                _make_writeable(path_new)
             except OSError:
                 sys.stderr.write(style.NOTICE("Notice: Couldn't set permission bits on %s. You're probably using an uncommon filesystem setup. No problem.\n" % path_new))
+
+def _make_writeable(filename):
+    "Makes sure that the file is writeable. Useful if our source is read-only."
+    import stat
+    if not os.access(filename, os.W_OK):
+      st = os.stat(filename)
+      new_permissions = stat.S_IMODE(st.st_mode) | stat.S_IWUSR
+      os.chmod(filename, new_permissions)
+
diff --git a/django/core/management/commands/startproject.py b/django/core/management/commands/startproject.py
index 0d9e4bd381..ab4f409f15 100644
--- a/django/core/management/commands/startproject.py
+++ b/django/core/management/commands/startproject.py
@@ -28,11 +28,6 @@ class Command(LabelCommand):
         # Create a random SECRET_KEY hash, and put it in the main settings.
         main_settings_file = os.path.join(directory, project_name, 'settings.py')
         settings_contents = open(main_settings_file, 'r').read()
-
-        # If settings.py was copied from a read-only source, make it writeable.
-        if not os.access(main_settings_file, os.W_OK):
-            os.chmod(main_settings_file, 0600)
-
         fp = open(main_settings_file, 'w')
         secret_key = ''.join([choice('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789!@#$%^&*(-_=+)') for i in range(50)])
         settings_contents = re.sub(r"(?<=SECRET_KEY = ')'", secret_key + "'", settings_contents)