You have to do this through the ftp server command, it got the same name as the perl function jeroenes mentioned namely "chmod".
You can't to this before uploading or remote through perl unless you use Net::FTP or something similar

Of course if you got the script running on the remote server there's no problem using chmod after uploading the file.

Oh..btw, 777 is buhu, use 755 at least if possible.

moen