def get_path_permission(path):
    ''' on platforms that do not support symbolic links,
    lstat is an alias for stat()
    so we return a tuple of both
    '''
    lst = os.lstat(path)
    st = os.stat(path)
    permission = octal_permissions(lst.st_mode), octal_permissions(st.st_mode)
    return permission
on platforms that do not support symbolic links,
    lstat is an alias for stat()
    so we return a tuple of both