diff --git a/beetsplug/permissions.py b/beetsplug/permissions.py
index 1d2c45f0f..aaf923fe8 100644
--- a/beetsplug/permissions.py
+++ b/beetsplug/permissions.py
@@ -13,15 +13,17 @@ import os
 from beets import config, util
 from beets.plugins import BeetsPlugin
 from beets.util import ancestry
+import six
 
 
 def convert_perm(perm):
-    """If the perm is a int then just return it, otherwise convert it to oct.
+    """Convert a string to an integer, interpreting the text as octal.
+    Or, if `perm` is an integer, reinterpret it as an octal number that
+    has been "misinterpreted" as decimal.
     """
-    if isinstance(perm, int):
-        return perm
-    else:
-        return int(perm, 8)
+    if isinstance(perm, six.integer_types):
+        perm = six.text_type(perm)
+    return int(perm, 8)
 
 
 def check_permissions(path, permission):
@@ -63,7 +65,7 @@ class Permissions(BeetsPlugin):
         # Adding defaults.
         self.config.add({
             u'file': '644',
-            u'dir': '755'
+            u'dir': '755',
         })
 
         self.register_listener('item_imported', self.fix)
@@ -72,11 +74,12 @@ class Permissions(BeetsPlugin):
     def fix(self, lib, item=None, album=None):
         """Fix the permissions for an imported Item or Album.
         """
-        # Getting the config.
+        # Get the configured permissions. The user can specify this either a
+        # string (in YAML quotes) or, for convenience, as an integer so the
+        # quotes can be omitted. In the latter case, we need to reinterpret the
+        # integer as octal, not decimal.
         file_perm = config['permissions']['file'].get()
         dir_perm = config['permissions']['dir'].get()
-
-        # Converts permissions to oct.
         file_perm = convert_perm(file_perm)
         dir_perm = convert_perm(dir_perm)
 
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 8e780b9a6..ef91a11da 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -13,9 +13,15 @@ New features:
   'path' tag to the json outpu of a file which shows the relative path to the
   file. :bug:`2050`
 
-Other fixes:
+Fixes:
 
 * :doc:`/plugins/web`: Normalized the json output
+* :doc:`/plugins/permissions`: Fix a regression in the previous release where
+  the plugin would always fail to set permissions (and log a warning).
+  :bug:`2089`
+
+The last release, 1.3.19, also erroneously reported its version as "1.3.18"
+when you typed ``beet version``. This has been corrected.
 
 .. _six: https://pythonhosted.org/six/
 
diff --git a/test/test_permissions.py b/test/test_permissions.py
index c6b1837b4..7234ec30d 100644
--- a/test/test_permissions.py
+++ b/test/test_permissions.py
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ class PermissionsPluginTest(unittest.TestCase, TestHelper):
     def test_convert_perm_from_string(self):
         self.assertEqual(convert_perm('10'), 8)
 
+    def test_convert_perm_from_int(self):
+        self.assertEqual(convert_perm(10), 8)
+
 
 def suite():
     return unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromName(__name__)