new file mode 100755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-symlink-basic
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+cat >> readlink.py <<EOF
+import os
+import sys
+
+for f in sys.argv[1:]:
+    print f, '->', os.readlink(f)
+EOF
+
+hg init a
+cd a
+ln -s nothing dangling
+hg add dangling
+hg commit -m 'add symlink' -d '0 0'
+
+hg tip -v
+hg manifest --debug
+echo '% rev 0:'
+python ../readlink.py dangling
+
+rm dangling
+ln -s void dangling
+hg commit -m 'change symlink'
+echo '% rev 1:'
+python ../readlink.py dangling
+
+echo '% modifying link'
+rm dangling
+ln -s empty dangling
+python ../readlink.py dangling
+
+echo '% reverting to rev 0:'
+hg revert -r 0 -a
+python ../readlink.py dangling
+
+echo '% backups:'
+python ../readlink.py *.orig
+
+rm *.orig
+hg up -C
+echo '% copies'
+hg cp -v dangling dangling2
+hg st -Cmard
+python ../readlink.py dangling dangling2