diff --git a/builder.py b/builder.py
index 5c6aa34..fe978fa 100644
--- a/builder.py
+++ b/builder.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def _nice(t):
 
 def _try_stat(filename):
     try:
-        return os.stat(filename)
+        return os.lstat(filename)
     except OSError, e:
         if e.errno == errno.ENOENT:
             return None
diff --git a/state.py b/state.py
index 1943ca9..08ce5dd 100644
--- a/state.py
+++ b/state.py
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ class File(object):
 
     def read_stamp(self):
         try:
-            st = os.stat(os.path.join(vars.BASE, self.name))
+            st = os.lstat(os.path.join(vars.BASE, self.name))
         except OSError:
             return STAMP_MISSING
         if stat.S_ISDIR(st.st_mode):
diff --git a/t/201-fail/all.do b/t/201-fail/all.do
index 86dcd60..e82355a 100644
--- a/t/201-fail/all.do
+++ b/t/201-fail/all.do
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@ rm -f fail
 
 touch fail
 ../flush-cache
+# since we created this file by hand, fail.do won't run, so it won't fail.
 redo-ifchange fail >&/dev/null || exit 55  # expected to pass
diff --git a/t/360-symlinks/.gitignore b/t/360-symlinks/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b0acc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/360-symlinks/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+*.did
+*.extra
+a
+b
diff --git a/t/360-symlinks/a.do b/t/360-symlinks/a.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30b8320
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/360-symlinks/a.do
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+echo x >>a.did
+rm -f $2.extra
+echo foo >$2.extra
+ln -s $2.extra $3
diff --git a/t/360-symlinks/all.do b/t/360-symlinks/all.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5259e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/360-symlinks/all.do
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+rm -f a a.extra b b.did
+d0=""
+redo a
+redo-ifchange b
+d1=$(cat b.did)
+[ "$d0" != "$d1" ] || exit 11
+
+# b only rebuilds if a changes
+../flush-cache
+redo-ifchange b
+d2=$(cat b.did)
+[ "$d1" = "$d2" ] || exit 12
+
+# forcibly changing a should rebuild b.
+# a is already symlink to a.extra, but redo shouldn't care about the
+# target of symlinks, so it shouldn't freak out that a.extra has changed.
+# Anyway, b should still rebuild because a was rebuilt.
+../flush-cache
+redo a
+redo-ifchange b
+d3=$(cat b.did)
+[ "$d2" != "$d3" ] || exit 13
+
+# Explicitly check that changing a's symlink target (a.extra) does *not*
+# trigger a rebuild of b, because b depends on the stamp of the symlink,
+# not what the symlink points to.  In redo, you declare dependencies on
+# specific filenames, not the things they happen to refer to.
+../flush-cache
+touch a.extra
+redo-ifchange b
+d4=$(cat b.did)
+[ "$d3" = "$d4" ] || exit 14
diff --git a/t/360-symlinks/b.do b/t/360-symlinks/b.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52159b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/360-symlinks/b.do
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+echo x >>b.did
+redo-ifchange a
+cat a >$3
diff --git a/t/360-symlinks/clean.do b/t/360-symlinks/clean.do
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fceeb8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/360-symlinks/clean.do
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+rm -f *~ .*~ a b *.extra *.did