diff --git a/lib/libalpm/util.c b/lib/libalpm/util.c
index 3fbd757a..8b4293ad 100644
--- a/lib/libalpm/util.c
+++ b/lib/libalpm/util.c
@@ -1329,6 +1329,7 @@ int _alpm_access(alpm_handle_t *handle, const char *dir, const char *file, int a
 {
        size_t len = 0;
        int ret = 0;
+       struct stat statbuf;

        if(dir) {
                char *check_path;
@@ -1337,8 +1338,14 @@ int _alpm_access(alpm_handle_t *handle, const char *dir, const char *file, int a
                CALLOC(check_path, len, sizeof(char), RET_ERR(handle, ALPM_ERR_MEMORY, -1));
                snprintf(check_path, len, "%s%s", dir, file);

-               ret = access(check_path, amode);
-               free(check_path);
+               lstat(file, &statbuf);
+               if S_ISLNK(statbuf.st_mode) {
+                               ret = access(dirname(file), amode);
+               }
+               else {
+                               ret = access(check_path, amode);
+                               free(check_path);
+               }
        } else {
                dir = "";
                ret = access(file, amode);