diff --git a/abuild.in b/abuild.in
index cb5d2862fa7f944176686ea6d20560aba645bde6..3879b5eb7827eacc5b8e20418097e01cfe504b8c 100644
--- a/abuild.in
+++ b/abuild.in
@@ -1176,12 +1176,16 @@ scan_shared_objects() {
 # find which package provides file that symlink points to
 scan_symlink_targets() {
 	local name="$1" dir="$2" datadir="$3"
-	local symfile
+	local symfile= targetpath=
 	cd "$datadir"
 	for symfile in "$pkgbasedir"/.control.*/.symlinks; do
 		[ -e "$symfile" ] || continue
 		while read symlink target; do
-			if [ -e "${symlink%/*}"/"$target" ]; then
+			case "$target" in
+			/*) targetpath="${datadir}/$target";;
+			*) targetpath="${symlink%/*}/$target";;
+			esac
+			if [ -e "$targetpath" ] || [ -L "$targetpath" ]; then
 				local d="${symfile%/.symlinks}"
 				echo "$name=$pkgver-r$pkgrel" \
 					>> "$d"/.symlinks-needs