diff --git a/Converter.php b/Converter.php
index f32ce2c..30fb324 100644
--- a/Converter.php
+++ b/Converter.php
@@ -114,9 +114,12 @@ public function needRecompile($from, $to)
 
     public function checkDestinationDir($basePath, $file)
     {
-        $distDir = dirname($basePath . '/' . $file);
-        if (!is_dir($distDir)) {
-            mkdir($distDir, $this->destinationDirPerms, true);
+        $dstDir = dirname($basePath . '/' . $file);
+        if (!is_dir($dstDir)) {
+            mkdir($dstDir, $this->destinationDirPerms, true);
+            $assetManager = \Yii::$app->assetManager;
+            if ($assetManager->dirMode)
+                @chmod($dstDir, $assetManager->dirMode);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/Less.php b/Less.php
index 62326fa..e248f5f 100644
--- a/Less.php
+++ b/Less.php
@@ -3,10 +3,40 @@
 
 use Yii;
 use yii\caching\FileCache;
+use yii\base\Event;
 
 class Less extends Parser
 {
-    public $auto = false;
+    /** Name of the event that will be sent right before a compile. It will include filenames and the compiler instance */
+    const EVENT_BEFORE_COMPILE = 'beforeCompile';
+
+    /** @var bool           true to automatically try to determine what to compile using the file cache manager */
+    public $auto            = false;
+
+    /** @var bool           true to compress the output */
+    public $compressed      = false;
+
+    /** @var bool           If true, adjust urls to be relative, false means don't touch */
+    public $relativeUrls    = true;
+
+    /**
+     * Set of variables to register and that will be available in the less files.
+     * Note: The value should be in less format (strings are double quoted etc)
+     * eg "variables" => ['some-variable' => '"variable quoted content"']
+     *
+     * On top of these 2 others will be added:
+     * - published-url: Full url of the file currently being compiled
+     * - published-base-url: Base Url of the assets folder
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
+    public $variables       = [];
+
+    /**
+     * Temporary runtime data so the event handlers can access it
+     * @var array
+     */
+    public $runtime         = null;
 
     /**
      * Parse a Less file to CSS
@@ -14,6 +44,33 @@ class Less extends Parser
     public function parse($src, $dst, $options)
     {
         $this->auto = isset($options['auto']) ? $options['auto'] : $this->auto;
+
+        $variables = $this->variables;
+        $assetManager = Yii::$app->assetManager;
+
+        // Final url of the file being compiled
+        $assetUrl = substr($dst, strpos($assetManager->basePath, $assetManager->baseUrl));
+        $variables['published-url'] = '"' . $assetUrl . '"';
+
+        // Root for the published folder
+        $variables['published-base-url'] = '"/' . implode('/', array_slice(explode('/', ltrim($assetUrl, '/')), 0, 2)) . '"';
+
+        $less = new \lessc();
+        $less->setVariables($variables);
+
+        // Compressed setting
+        if ($this->compressed) {
+            $less->setFormatter('compressed');
+        }
+        \Less_Parser::$default_options['compress'] = $this->compressed;
+        \Less_Parser::$default_options['relativeUrls'] = $this->relativeUrls;
+
+        // Send out pre-compile event
+        $event = new \yii\base\Event();
+        $this->runtime = ['sourceFile' => $src, 'destinationFile' => $dst, 'compiler' => $less];
+        $event->sender = $this;
+        Event::trigger($this, self::EVENT_BEFORE_COMPILE, $event);
+
         try {
             if ($this->auto) {
                 /* @var FileCache $cacheMgr */
@@ -24,7 +81,6 @@ public function parse($src, $dst, $options)
                 if ($cache === false || (@filemtime($dst) < @filemtime($src))) {
                     $cache = $src;
                 }
-                $less = new \lessc();
                 $newCache = $less->cachedCompile($cache);
 
                 if (!is_array($cache) || ($newCache["updated"] > $cache["updated"])) {
@@ -32,11 +88,16 @@ public function parse($src, $dst, $options)
                     file_put_contents($dst, $newCache['compiled']);
                 }
             } else {
-                $less = new \lessc();
                 $less->compileFile($src, $dst);
             }
-        } catch (Exception $e) {
-            throw new Exception(__CLASS__ . ': Failed to compile less file : ' . $e->getMessage() . '.');
+
+            // If needed, respect the users configuration
+            if ($assetManager->fileMode !== null)
+                @chmod($dst, $assetManager->fileMode);
+
+            unset($this->less);
+        } catch (\Exception $e) {
+            throw new \Exception(__CLASS__ . ': Failed to compile less file : ' . $e->getMessage() . '.');
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file