--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -122,11 +122,6 @@ class localrepository(repo.repository):
         self.filterpats = {}
         self.transhandle = None
 
-        self._link = lambda x: False
-        if util.checklink(self.root):
-            r = self.root # avoid circular reference in lambda
-            self._link = lambda x: util.is_link(os.path.join(r, x))
-
         self.dirstate = dirstate.dirstate(self.opener, self.ui, self.root)
 
     def url(self):
@@ -525,6 +520,9 @@ class localrepository(repo.repository):
     def wfile(self, f, mode='r'):
         return self.wopener(f, mode)
 
+    def _link(self, f):
+        return os.path.islink(self.wjoin(f))
+
     def _filter(self, filter, filename, data):
         if filter not in self.filterpats:
             l = []

--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -792,7 +792,7 @@ def checklink(path):
 def linkfunc(path, fallback):
     '''return an is_link() function with default to fallback'''
     if checklink(path):
-        return lambda x: is_link(os.path.join(path, x))
+        return lambda x: os.path.islink(os.path.join(path, x))
     return fallback
 
 # Platform specific variants
@@ -968,10 +968,6 @@ else:
         else:
             os.chmod(f, s & 0666)
 
-    def is_link(f):
-        """check whether a file is a symlink"""
-        return (os.lstat(f).st_mode & 0120000 == 0120000)
-
     def set_link(f, mode):
         """make a file a symbolic link/regular file
 
@@ -979,7 +975,7 @@ else:
         if a link is changed to a file, its link data become its contents
         """
 
-        m = is_link(f)
+        m = os.path.islink(f)
         if m == bool(mode):
             return