diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 3062587c12..ba6ec9bba1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ git-annex (8.20200502) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     without any sanitization, but will fail if the filename has an obvious
     security problem like using an escape sequence or trying to escape
     the current directory.
+  * Display a warning message when asked to operate on a file inside a
+    directory that's a symbolic link to elsewhere.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Mon, 04 May 2020 12:46:11 -0400
 
diff --git a/CmdLine/Seek.hs b/CmdLine/Seek.hs
index 6f035fdcb8..77c3bd0e2e 100644
--- a/CmdLine/Seek.hs
+++ b/CmdLine/Seek.hs
@@ -243,28 +243,47 @@ newtype WorkTreeItem = WorkTreeItem FilePath
 -- seeking for such files.
 newtype AllowHidden = AllowHidden Bool
 
--- Many git commands seek work tree items matching some criteria,
+-- Many git commands like ls-files seek work tree items matching some criteria,
 -- and silently skip over anything that does not exist. But users expect
 -- an error message when one of the files they provided as a command-line
 -- parameter doesn't exist, so this checks that each exists.
+--
+-- Also, when two directories are symlinked, referring to a file
+-- inside the symlinked directory will be silently skipped by git commands
+-- like ls-files. But, the user would be surprised for it to be skipped, so
+-- check if the parent directories are symlinks.
 workTreeItems :: CmdParams -> Annex [WorkTreeItem]
 workTreeItems = workTreeItems' (AllowHidden False)
 
 workTreeItems' :: AllowHidden -> CmdParams -> Annex [WorkTreeItem]
 workTreeItems' (AllowHidden allowhidden) ps = do
 	currbranch <- getCurrentBranch
-	forM_ ps $ \p ->
-		unlessM (exists p <||> hidden currbranch p) $ do
-			toplevelWarning False (p ++ " not found")
-			Annex.incError
+	forM_ ps $ \p -> do
+		relf <- liftIO $ relPathCwdToFile p
+		ifM (not <$> (exists p <||> hidden currbranch relf))
+			( prob (p ++ " not found")
+			, whenM (viasymlink (upFrom relf)) $
+				prob (p ++ " is beyond a symbolic link")
+			)
 	return (map (WorkTreeItem) ps)
   where
 	exists p = isJust <$> liftIO (catchMaybeIO $ getSymbolicLinkStatus p)
-	hidden currbranch p
-		| allowhidden = do
-			f <- liftIO $ relPathCwdToFile p
-			isJust <$> catObjectMetaDataHidden (toRawFilePath f) currbranch
+
+	viasymlink Nothing = return False
+	viasymlink (Just p) =
+		ifM (liftIO $ isSymbolicLink <$> getSymbolicLinkStatus p)
+			( return True
+			, viasymlink (upFrom p)
+			)
+
+	hidden currbranch f
+		| allowhidden = isJust
+			<$> catObjectMetaDataHidden (toRawFilePath f) currbranch
 		| otherwise = return False
 
+	prob msg = do
+		toplevelWarning False msg
+		Annex.incError
+	
 notSymlink :: RawFilePath -> IO Bool
 notSymlink f = liftIO $ not . isSymbolicLink <$> R.getSymbolicLinkStatus f
diff --git a/Utility/Path.hs b/Utility/Path.hs
index c1137d7924..b66e127142 100644
--- a/Utility/Path.hs
+++ b/Utility/Path.hs
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ parentDir :: FilePath -> FilePath
 parentDir = takeDirectory . dropTrailingPathSeparator
 
 {- Just the parent directory of a path, or Nothing if the path has no
-- parent (ie for "/" or ".") -}
+- parent (ie for "/" or "." or "foo") -}
 upFrom :: FilePath -> Maybe FilePath
 upFrom dir
 	| length dirs < 2 = Nothing
diff --git a/doc/bugs/surprising_behavior_operating_on_file_behind_symlink.mdwn b/doc/bugs/surprising_behavior_operating_on_file_behind_symlink.mdwn
index 0ca46efe85..b7893cc569 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/surprising_behavior_operating_on_file_behind_symlink.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/surprising_behavior_operating_on_file_behind_symlink.mdwn
@@ -8,3 +8,5 @@ This happens because git ls-files doesn't list the file, but then I think
 the code that handles erroring if a file that does not exist is specified
 doesn't catch it because the file does exist, it's just behind the symlink.
 --[[Joey]]
+
+> [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]