diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d1/p1.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d1/p1.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c6378a8d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d1/p1.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<project name="p1" default="run">
+    <import file="../d2/p2.xml"/>
+    <import file="../d3b/p3.xml"/>
+</project>
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d2/p2.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d2/p2.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b434ee832
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d2/p2.xml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<project name="p2"/>
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d3a/p3.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d3a/p3.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3080451b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d3a/p3.xml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<project name="p3"/>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTask.java
index 4ef227785..99b9e65e9 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTask.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTask.java
@@ -131,8 +131,6 @@ public class ImportTask extends Task {
             }
         }
 
-        importedFile = new File(getPath(importedFile));
-
         if (importStack.contains(importedFile)) {
             getProject().log(
                 "Skipped already imported file:\n   "
@@ -148,11 +146,4 @@ public class ImportTask extends Task {
         }
     }
 
-    private static String getPath(File file) {
-        try {
-            return file.getCanonicalPath();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            return file.getAbsolutePath();
-        }
-    }
 }
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTest.java
index 128f2cd54..946aa539c 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ImportTest.java
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 
 package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildFileTest;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.Location;
@@ -109,5 +112,34 @@ public class ImportTest extends BuildFileTest {
             "Did not see build exception",
             false);
     }
-}
 
+    public void testSymlinkedImports() throws Exception {
+        String ln = "/usr/bin/ln";
+        if (!new File(ln).exists()) {
+            ln = "/bin/ln";
+        }
+        if (!new File(ln).exists()) {
+            // Running on Windows or something, so skip it.
+            return;
+        }
+        String symlink = "src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d3b";
+        if (Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {ln, "-s", "d3a", symlink}).waitFor() != 0) {
+            throw new IOException("'" + ln + " -s d3a " + symlink + "' failed");
+        }
+        try {
+            configureProject(
+                "src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d1/p1.xml");
+            assertPropertyEquals(
+                "ant.file.p2",
+                new File("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d2/p2.xml")
+                .getAbsolutePath());
+            assertPropertyEquals(
+                "ant.file.p3",
+                new File("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/import/symlinks/d3b/p3.xml")
+                .getAbsolutePath());
+        } finally {
+            new File(symlink).delete();
+        }
+    }
+
+}