'ensure a directory exists at a given path
This is a version of os.mkdir, with the following differences:
- returns True if it created the directory, False otherwise
- ignores EEXIST, protecting against race conditions where
the dir may have been created in between the check and
the creation
- sets permissions if requested and the dir already exists'

def _mkdir(self, path, mode=None):

    if os.path.exists(path):
        if (mode and (os.stat(path).st_mode != mode)):
            try:
                os.chmod(path, mode)
            except OSError:
                self.log.warning('Could    not    set    permissions    on    %s', path)
        return False
    try:
        if mode:
            os.mkdir(path, mode)
        else:
            os.mkdir(path)
    except OSError as e:
        if (e.errno == errno.EEXIST):
            return False
        else:
            raise
    return True
