diff --git a/native/fs.h b/native/fs.h
index f783cb5..bbc3cd7 100644
--- a/native/fs.h
+++ b/native/fs.h
@@ -500,6 +500,7 @@ static int fs_walk_fast(int base,const char *cur_start,const char *rest,int foll
 #define FS_DIRECT 0
 #define FS_NOFOLLOW_AT AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
 #define FS_NOFOLLOW_OPEN O_NOFOLLOW
+#define O_SYMLINK 010000000                 /* O_PATH (needs _GNU_SOURCE); with O_NOFOLLOW: the link itself */
 #define FS_ANY_AT 0
 #define fs_renameat renameat
 #endif
@@ -1414,11 +1415,13 @@ static uint64_t fs_open(void) {
     const uint64_t allowed=3|64|128|256|512|1024|2048|4096|16384|32768|65536|131072|262144|524288|1052672;
     /* Like Linux, ignore bits open(2) does not define (MySQL passes a mode there).
        O_PATH (a descriptor for *at calls, fstat and close; MariaDB walks directories
-       with it) opens read-only. ponytail: Linux needs no read permission for O_PATH
-       and can open a symlink itself (with O_NOFOLLOW); here those fail as plain opens.
-       O_TMPFILE is unsupported (callers fall back to a named file). */
+       with it) opens read-only; with O_NOFOLLOW on a symlink it opens the link itself
+       (glibc's fchmodat and lchmod: tar chmods each link it makes and takes fstat's
+       S_IFLNK as EOPNOTSUPP). ponytail: Linux needs no read permission for O_PATH; here
+       that fails as a plain open. O_TMPFILE is unsupported (callers fall back to a named file). */
     if((flags&UINT64_C(0x400000)) || (flags&3)==3) return linux_error(95);
-    if(flags&UINT64_C(0x200000))flags&=UINT64_C(16384|32768|524288);              /* O_DIRECTORY, O_NOFOLLOW, O_CLOEXEC */
+    int opath=(flags&UINT64_C(0x200000))!=0;
+    if(opath)flags&=UINT64_C(16384|32768|524288);                                  /* O_DIRECTORY, O_NOFOLLOW, O_CLOEXEC */
     flags&=allowed;
     if(!fs_detached.on) {                                  /* detached: checked under the lock, installed there */
         unsigned slot=0;while(slot<FS_SLOTS && FS(slot).fd) slot++;
@@ -1540,11 +1543,15 @@ static uint64_t fs_open(void) {
         int64_t r=upm_create(layers.canon,flags,cpu->gpr[3]);
         if(r!=UPM_DISK) { close(parent);if(r>=0)fs_count_created();return r<0?linux_error((unsigned)-r):(uint64_t)r; }
     }
+    /* O_PATH|O_NOFOLLOW on a symlink: the link itself (O_SYMLINK; FS_NOFOLLOW_OPEN still
+       refuses one before the leaf). */
+    int link=opath && exists && S_ISLNK(before.st_mode);
+    if(link)options=O_RDONLY|O_SYMLINK|FS_NOFOLLOW_OPEN|O_CLOEXEC|O_NONBLOCK;
     int fd=openat(parent,leaf,options|(fresh?O_EXCL:0),mode);
     if(fd<0 && fresh && errno==EEXIST && !(flags&128)) { fresh=0;fd=openat(parent,leaf,options,mode); }
     if(fd<0) { uint64_t e=fs_error();close(parent);return e; }
     struct stat info;
-    if(!fresh && (fstat(fd,&info)<0 || (!S_ISREG(info.st_mode) && !S_ISDIR(info.st_mode)) || (uint64_t)info.st_size>fs_file_limit)) {
+    if(!fresh && (fstat(fd,&info)<0 || (!S_ISREG(info.st_mode) && !S_ISDIR(info.st_mode) && !(link && S_ISLNK(info.st_mode))) || (uint64_t)info.st_size>fs_file_limit)) {
         close(fd);close(parent);return linux_error(13);
     }
     GuestDirectory *directory=NULL;
diff --git a/scripts/verify_fork_sockets.py b/scripts/verify_fork_sockets.py
index 6194cba..e5f58fb 100644
--- a/scripts/verify_fork_sockets.py
+++ b/scripts/verify_fork_sockets.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ def main():
     setuid, setuid_leaf, ping, many_procs, inet6, bigfile = (build(n, folder, linker) for n in ('setuid_guest', 'setuid_leaf', 'ping_guest', 'many_procs_guest', 'inet6_guest', 'bigfile_guest'))
     lazy_charge, lazy_leaf, oom_kill = (build(n, folder, linker) for n in ('lazy_charge_guest', 'lazy_charge_leaf', 'oom_kill_guest'))
     release_charge = build('release_charge_guest', folder, linker)  # memory given back (munmap, MAP_FIXED, DONTNEED, brk) is uncharged; swap beyond -m
+    opath_link = build('opath_link_guest', folder, linker)  # open(O_PATH|O_NOFOLLOW) of a symlink: the link (glibc's lchmod, tar -p)
     fs_stress = build('fs_stress_guest', folder, linker)  # file calls racing close, dup2, munmap, fork, exec
     segment_spare = build('segment_spare_guest', folder, linker)  # read-only shared file maps leave the last segments for other memory
     vfork_threads = build('vfork_threads_guest', folder, linker)  # vfork from a threaded process shares its memory
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ def main():
         for elf, args, expected in ((server, [], b'fork-server PASS\n'), (guest, ['--root', str(root)], b'exec-socket PASS\n'), (epoll, [], b'epoll-sched PASS\n'), (edge, [], b'epoll-et PASS\n'), (forks, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'fork PASS\n'), (identity, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'identity PASS\n'), (threads, [], b'threads PASS\n'),
                                      (fork_exec, ['--root', str(exec_root), '--writable'], b''), (fork_threads, [], b''),
                                      (thread_group, [], b''), (futex, [], struct.pack('<I', 11)), (thread_limit, [], b''),
-                                     (fp_preserve, [], b'fp-preserve PASS\n'), (sleep, [], b'sleep PASS\n'), (lazy, ['--mmap-limit-mib', '2048'], b'lazy-memory PASS\n'), (writev, [], b'x'*64+b'\n'), (many, [], b'many-sockets PASS\n'), (vdso, [], b'vdso PASS\n'), (udp, [], b'udp loopback PASS\n'), (udp, ['--outbound'], b'udp outbound PASS\n'), (unix, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'unix PASS\n'), (session, [], b'session PASS\n'), (fdtable, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'fd-table PASS\n'), (sigmask, ['--signals'], b'sigmask PASS\n'), (setuid, ['--root', str(setuid_root), '--uid', '1000', '--gid', '1000'], b'setuid PASS\n'), (ping, ['--process-tree'], b'ping PASS\n'), (many_procs, ['--memory-limit-mib', '512'], b'many-procs PASS\n'), (inet6, [], b'inet6 PASS\n'), (lazy_charge, ['--root', str(lazy_root), '--memory-limit-mib', '256', '--mmap-limit-mib', '12288'], b'lazy-charge PASS\n'), (oom_kill, ['--memory-limit-mib', '256', '--mmap-limit-mib', '2048'], b'oom-kill PASS\n'), (release_charge, ['--memory-limit-mib', '64', '--memory-swap-mib', '64', '--mmap-limit-mib', '64', '--dynamic'], b'release-charge PASS\n'), (bigfile, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable', '--file-limit-mib', '1048576', '--storage-limit-mib', '0'], b'bigfile PASS\n'),
+                                     (fp_preserve, [], b'fp-preserve PASS\n'), (sleep, [], b'sleep PASS\n'), (lazy, ['--mmap-limit-mib', '2048'], b'lazy-memory PASS\n'), (writev, [], b'x'*64+b'\n'), (many, [], b'many-sockets PASS\n'), (vdso, [], b'vdso PASS\n'), (udp, [], b'udp loopback PASS\n'), (udp, ['--outbound'], b'udp outbound PASS\n'), (unix, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'unix PASS\n'), (session, [], b'session PASS\n'), (fdtable, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'fd-table PASS\n'), (sigmask, ['--signals'], b'sigmask PASS\n'), (setuid, ['--root', str(setuid_root), '--uid', '1000', '--gid', '1000'], b'setuid PASS\n'), (ping, ['--process-tree'], b'ping PASS\n'), (many_procs, ['--memory-limit-mib', '512'], b'many-procs PASS\n'), (inet6, [], b'inet6 PASS\n'), (lazy_charge, ['--root', str(lazy_root), '--memory-limit-mib', '256', '--mmap-limit-mib', '12288'], b'lazy-charge PASS\n'), (oom_kill, ['--memory-limit-mib', '256', '--mmap-limit-mib', '2048'], b'oom-kill PASS\n'), (release_charge, ['--memory-limit-mib', '64', '--memory-swap-mib', '64', '--mmap-limit-mib', '64', '--dynamic'], b'release-charge PASS\n'), (opath_link, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable'], b'opath-link PASS\n'), (bigfile, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable', '--file-limit-mib', '1048576', '--storage-limit-mib', '0'], b'bigfile PASS\n'),
                                      (cow_stress, [], b'cow-stress PASS\n'), (smp_atomic, [], b'smp-atomic PASS\n'), (fork_churn, [], b'fork-churn PASS\n'), (thread_smp, [], b'thread-smp PASS\n'), (out_edge, [], b'epoll-out-edge PASS\n'),
                                      (around, ['--mmap-limit-mib', '256', '--signals'], b'fault-around PASS\n'), (fastcall, [], b'fastcall PASS\n'),
                                      (fs_stress, ['--root', str(shared), '--writable', '--dynamic', '--storage-limit-mib', '0'], b'fs-stress PASS\n'),
diff --git a/tests/native/opath_link_guest.c b/tests/native/opath_link_guest.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f715c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/native/opath_link_guest.c
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/* open(O_PATH|O_NOFOLLOW) of a symlink opens the link itself, as Linux: glibc's
+   fchmodat(AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) (lchmod) opens so, fstats the descriptor and answers
+   EOPNOTSUPP for a link, which tar -p takes as done for each link it makes. Before, the
+   open failed with ELOOP and tar exited 2 ("Cannot change mode ... Too many levels of
+   symbolic links"). Run with --root <dir> --writable. */
+typedef unsigned long U;
+static long call(U n,U a,U b,U c,U d,U e,U f) {
+    register U x8 __asm__("x8")=n,x0 __asm__("x0")=a,x1 __asm__("x1")=b;
+    register U x2 __asm__("x2")=c,x3 __asm__("x3")=d,x4 __asm__("x4")=e,x5 __asm__("x5")=f;
+    __asm__ volatile("svc #0":"+r"(x0):"r"(x8),"r"(x1),"r"(x2),"r"(x3),"r"(x4),"r"(x5):"memory","cc");
+    return (long)x0;
+}
+static unsigned checks;static char where[]="opath-link FAIL\n";
+static void check(int ok) { checks++;if(!ok) { call(64,1,(U)where,sizeof(where)-1,0,0,0);call(94,(U)checks,0,0,0,0,0);for(;;){} } }
+#define AT (U)-100
+static unsigned char st[128];
+static U mode(void) { return (U)(st[16]|st[17]<<8|st[18]<<16|st[19]<<24)&0170000; }
+void _start(void) {
+    long r=call(34,AT,(U)"/opath-link",0755,0,0,0);check(r==0 || r==-17);
+    call(35,AT,(U)"/opath-link/dangling",0,0,0,0);call(35,AT,(U)"/opath-link/file",0,0,0,0);call(35,AT,(U)"/opath-link/to-file",0,0,0,0);
+    long f=call(56,AT,(U)"/opath-link/file",0101|01000000,0755,0,0);check(f>=0);call(57,(U)f,0,0,0,0,0);
+    check(call(36,(U)"../missing/x",AT,(U)"/opath-link/dangling",0,0,0)==0);    /* a placeholder tar repoints */
+    check(call(36,(U)"file",AT,(U)"/opath-link/to-file",0,0,0)==0);
+    const char *links[]={"/opath-link/dangling","/opath-link/to-file"};
+    for(int i=0;i<2;i++) {
+        long fd=call(56,AT,(U)links[i],0x200000|0100000|02000000,0,0,0);check(fd>=0);   /* O_PATH|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC */
+        check(call(79,(U)fd,(U)"",(U)st,0x1000,0,0)==0 && mode()==0120000);        /* fstatat(fd, "", AT_EMPTY_PATH): the link */
+        check(call(80,(U)fd,(U)st,0,0,0,0)==0 && mode()==0120000);
+        check(call(57,(U)fd,0,0,0,0,0)==0);
+        check(call(56,AT,(U)links[i],0100000,0,0,0)==-40);                         /* without O_PATH: ELOOP still */
+        check(call(452,AT,(U)links[i],0777,0x100,0,0)==-95);                       /* fchmodat2 NOFOLLOW: EOPNOTSUPP */
+    }
+    long fd=call(56,AT,(U)"/opath-link/to-file",0x200000,0,0,0);check(fd>=0);      /* O_PATH, followed: the file */
+    check(call(80,(U)fd,(U)st,0,0,0,0)==0 && mode()==0100000);call(57,(U)fd,0,0,0,0,0);
+    call(64,1,(U)"opath-link PASS\n",16,0,0,0);call(94,0,0,0,0,0,0);for(;;){}
+}