diff --git a/mmdebstrap b/mmdebstrap
index 8c5ca85..5e188f8 100755
--- a/mmdebstrap
+++ b/mmdebstrap
@@ -934,8 +934,8 @@ sub setup {
 	    } elsif ($type == 1) { # hardlink
 		die "type 1 not implemented";
 	    } elsif ($type == 2) { # symlink
-		# nothing to do
-		next;
+		symlink $linkname, "$options->{root}/$fname" or die "cannot create symlink $fname";
+		next; # chmod cannot work on symlinks
 	    } elsif ($type == 3) { # character special
 		0 == system('mknod', "$options->{root}/$fname", 'c', $devmajor, $devminor) or die "mknod failed: $?";
 	    } elsif ($type == 4) { # block special