I think this is a simple umask issue. Making the test check for just the bits worked for me:
diff --git a/tests/publish.scm b/tests/publish.scm index 52101876b5..3e67c435ac 100644 --- a/tests/publish.scm +++ b/tests/publish.scm @@ -452,8 +452,8 @@ References: ~%" (wait-for-file cached) ;; Both the narinfo and nar should be world-readable. - (= #o644 (stat:perms (lstat cached))) - (= #o644 (stat:perms (lstat nar))) + (= #o444 (logand #o444 (stat:perms (lstat cached)))) + (= #o444 (logand #o444 (stat:perms (lstat nar)))) (let* ((body (http-get-port url)) (compressed (http-get nar-url))
