> I noticed that permissions on directories were mode 777.
> Basically everything in /var and /usr.

How did you unpack the sets? The files on ftp.netbsd.org contain things
like this:

drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 .
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./altroot
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:32 2001 ./bin
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./dev
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./dev/fd
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/defaults
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/disklabels
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/kerberosIV
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/kerberosV
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/mail
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/mtree
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/namedb
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/openssl
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/openssl/certs
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/openssl/misc
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/openssl/private
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/postfix
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/rc.conf.d
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/rc.d
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./etc/skel
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/sliphome
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./etc/uucp
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./home
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./mnt
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:45 2001 ./root
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel        0 Jun 28 12:36 2001 ./sbin
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./stand
drwxrwxrwt root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./tmp
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 03:48 2001 ./usr
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 28 12:41 2001 ./usr/bin
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 28 12:40 2001 ./usr/games
drwxr-x--- root/games         0 Jun 28 12:40 2001 ./usr/games/hide
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 28 12:31 2001 ./usr/include
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./usr/include/arpa
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./usr/include/compat
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/dev
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./usr/include/dev/microcode
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./usr/include/dev/ofw
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/dev/usb
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:28 2001 ./usr/include/g++
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:27 2001 ./usr/include/gssapi
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./usr/include/gssapi/rpc
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:27 2001 ./usr/include/kadm5
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:27 2001 ./usr/include/kerberosIV
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:27 2001 ./usr/include/krb5
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/net
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/netatalk
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/netccitt
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/netinet
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/netiso
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/netnatm
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/netns
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/nfs
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:26 2001 ./usr/include/ntfs
drwxr-xr-x root/wheel         0 Jun 17 01:25 2001 ./usr/include/objc
...


Martin