$ grep -lri mode_t /usr/include
$ # as usual, do sceptically eyeball sys and linux,

$ # but for now, this sounds like a hit: 
$ less /usr/include/bits/stat.h

/* Encoding of the file mode.  */

#define	__S_IFMT	0170000	/* These bits determine file type.  */

/* File types.  */
#define	__S_IFDIR	0040000	/* Directory.  */
#define	__S_IFCHR	0020000	/* Character device.  */
#define	__S_IFBLK	0060000	/* Block device.  */
#define	__S_IFREG	0100000	/* Regular file.  */
#define	__S_IFIFO	0010000	/* FIFO.  */
#define	__S_IFLNK	0120000	/* Symbolic link.  */
#define	__S_IFSOCK	0140000	/* Socket.  */

/* POSIX.1b objects.  Note that these macros always evaluate to zero.  But
   they do it by enforcing the correct use of the macros.  */
#define __S_TYPEISMQ(buf)  ((buf)->st_mode - (buf)->st_mode)
#define __S_TYPEISSEM(buf) ((buf)->st_mode - (buf)->st_mode)
#define __S_TYPEISSHM(buf) ((buf)->st_mode - (buf)->st_mode)

/* Protection bits.  */

#define	__S_ISUID	04000	/* Set user ID on execution.  */
#define	__S_ISGID	02000	/* Set group ID on execution.  */
#define	__S_ISVTX	01000	/* Save swapped text after use (sticky).  */
#define	__S_IREAD	0400	/* Read by owner.  */
#define	__S_IWRITE	0200	/* Write by owner.  */
#define	__S_IEXEC	0100	/* Execute by owner.  */

# strange - this file doesn't define access macros for group/other..