diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 2c856674ff..6e7e0cf4c1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ git-annex (8.20200720.2) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Slightly sped up the linux standalone bundle.
   * importfeed: Fix reversion that caused some '.' in filenames to be
     replaced with '_'
+  * Avoid complaining that a file with "is beyond a symbolic link"
+    when the filepath is absolute and the symlink in question is not
+    actually inside the git repository.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:58:30 -0400
 
diff --git a/CmdLine/Seek.hs b/CmdLine/Seek.hs
index 88a3c61212..1e8731e029 100644
--- a/CmdLine/Seek.hs
+++ b/CmdLine/Seek.hs
@@ -445,11 +445,12 @@ workTreeItems' (AllowHidden allowhidden) ww ps = case ww of
   where
 	runcheck = do
 		currbranch <- getCurrentBranch
+		stopattop <- prepviasymlink
 		ps' <- flip filterM ps $ \p -> do
 			relf <- liftIO $ relPathCwdToFile p
 			ifM (not <$> (exists p <||> hidden currbranch relf))
 				( prob (p ++ " not found")
-				, ifM (viasymlink (upFrom relf))
+				, ifM (viasymlink stopattop (upFrom relf))
 					( prob (p ++ " is beyond a symbolic link")
 					, return True
 					)
@@ -460,12 +461,25 @@ workTreeItems' (AllowHidden allowhidden) ww ps = case ww of
 	
 	exists p = isJust <$> liftIO (catchMaybeIO $ getSymbolicLinkStatus p)
 
-	viasymlink Nothing = return False
-	viasymlink (Just p) =
-		ifM (liftIO $ isSymbolicLink <$> getSymbolicLinkStatus p)
-			( return True
-			, viasymlink (upFrom p)
-			)
+	prepviasymlink = do
+		repotopst <- inRepo $ 
+			maybe
+				(pure Nothing)
+				(catchMaybeIO . R.getSymbolicLinkStatus) 
+			. Git.repoWorkTree
+		return $ \st -> case repotopst of
+			Nothing -> False
+			Just tst -> fileID st == fileID tst
+				&& deviceID st == deviceID tst
+
+	viasymlink _ Nothing = return False
+	viasymlink stopattop (Just p) = do
+		st <- liftIO $ getSymbolicLinkStatus p
+		if stopattop st
+			then return False
+			else if isSymbolicLink st
+				then return True
+				else viasymlink stopattop (upFrom p)
 
 	hidden currbranch f
 		| allowhidden = isJust
diff --git a/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo.mdwn b/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo.mdwn
index 3b4d06838b..f639a543dd 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo.mdwn
@@ -77,3 +77,5 @@ caller's side, but since it looks like an unintended consequence of
 
 [[!meta author=kyle]]
 [[!tag projects/datalad]]
+
+> [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo/comment_3_9ac6e3436ab4866993ebf4e469b13636._comment b/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo/comment_3_9ac6e3436ab4866993ebf4e469b13636._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..64ff44e454
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/__39__Beyond_symbolic__39___link_error_when_link_is_upstream_of_repo/comment_3_9ac6e3436ab4866993ebf4e469b13636._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 3"""
+ date="2020-08-06T22:29:49Z"
+ content="""
+AFAICS, git does something like cache the stat of the directory at the top
+of the working tree, and uses that to know which part to check for symlinks. 
+There's a lstat cache in the relevant code anyway.
+
+Ok, implemented it that way in git-annex, which I was able to do w/o doing
+any more work per file than comparing a dev and an inode.
+"""]]