diff --git a/bin/xbps-pkgdb/check_pkg_symlinks.c b/bin/xbps-pkgdb/check_pkg_symlinks.c
index c5cb089b..9a9c4397 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-pkgdb/check_pkg_symlinks.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-pkgdb/check_pkg_symlinks.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*-
- * Copyright (c) 2011-2014 Juan Romero Pardines.
+ * Copyright (c) 2011-2015 Juan Romero Pardines.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -46,53 +46,6 @@
  * returns 0 if test ran successfully, 1 otherwise and -1 on error.
  */
 
-static char *
-symlink_target(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *path)
-{
-	struct stat sb;
-	char *lnk, *res;
-	ssize_t r;
-
-	if (lstat(path, &sb) == -1)
-		return NULL;
-
-	lnk = malloc(sb.st_size + 1);
-	assert(lnk);
-
-	r = readlink(path, lnk, sb.st_size + 1);
-	if (r < 0 || r > sb.st_size) {
-		free(lnk);
-		return NULL;
-	}
-	lnk[sb.st_size] = '\0';
-	if (lnk[0] != '/') {
-		char tpath[PATH_MAX], *p, *dname;
-
-		/* relative */
-		p = strdup(path);
-		assert(p);
-		dname = dirname(p);
-		assert(dname);
-		snprintf(tpath, sizeof(tpath), "%s/%s", dname, lnk);
-		free(p);
-		if ((res = realpath(tpath, NULL)) == NULL) {
-			free(lnk);
-			return NULL;
-		}
-		if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
-			p = strdup(res);
-		else
-			p = strdup(res + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
-		free(res);
-		res = p;
-		free(lnk);
-	} else {
-		/* absolute */
-		res = lnk;
-	}
-	return res;
-}
-
 int
 check_pkg_symlinks(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *pkgname, void *arg)
 {
@@ -107,7 +60,7 @@ check_pkg_symlinks(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *pkgname, void *arg)
 
 	for (unsigned int i = 0; i < xbps_array_count(array); i++) {
 		const char *file = NULL, *tgt = NULL;
-		char path[PATH_MAX], *lnk = NULL, *tlnk = NULL;
+		char path[PATH_MAX], *lnk = NULL;
 
 		obj = xbps_array_get(array, i);
 		if (!xbps_dictionary_get_cstring_nocopy(obj, "file", &file))
@@ -124,55 +77,18 @@ check_pkg_symlinks(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *pkgname, void *arg)
 			continue;
 		}
 		snprintf(path, sizeof(path), "%s/%s", xhp->rootdir, file);
-		if ((lnk = symlink_target(xhp, path)) == NULL) {
+		if ((lnk = xbps_symlink_target(xhp, path)) == NULL) {
 			xbps_error_printf("%s: broken symlink %s (target: %s)\n", pkgname, file, tgt);
 			broken = true;
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (tgt[0] != '/') {
-			char *p, *p1, *dname;
-
-			p = strdup(file);
-			assert(p);
-			dname = dirname(p);
-			assert(dname);
-			snprintf(path, sizeof(path), "%s/%s", dname, tgt);
-			p1 = realpath(path, NULL);
-			free(p);
-			if (p1 == NULL) {
-				xbps_error_printf("%s: failed to realpath %s: %s\n",
-				    pkgname, file, strerror(errno));
-				free(lnk);
-				continue;
-			}
-			if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
-				tlnk = strdup(p1);
-			else
-				tlnk = strdup(p1 + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
-			free(p1);
-		} else {
-			char *p;
-
-			snprintf(path, sizeof(path), "%s/%s", xhp->rootdir, tgt);
-			if ((p = realpath(path, NULL))) {
-				if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
-					tlnk = strdup(p);
-				else
-					tlnk = strdup(p + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
-				free(p);
-			} else {
-				tlnk = strdup(tgt);
-			}
-		}
-		/* absolute */
-		if (strcmp(lnk, tlnk)) {
+		if (strcmp(lnk, tgt)) {
 			xbps_warn_printf("%s: modified symlink %s "
 			    "points to %s (shall be %s)\n",
-			    pkgname, file, lnk, tlnk);
+			    pkgname, file, lnk, tgt);
 			broken = true;
 		}
 		free(lnk);
-		free(tlnk);
 	}
 	return broken;
 }
diff --git a/include/xbps.h.in b/include/xbps.h.in
index 712d9522..6a5de397 100644
--- a/include/xbps.h.in
+++ b/include/xbps.h.in
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
  *
  * This header documents the full API for the XBPS Library.
  */
-#define XBPS_API_VERSION	"20150218"
+#define XBPS_API_VERSION	"20150219"
 
 #ifndef XBPS_VERSION
  #define XBPS_VERSION		"UNSET"
@@ -1937,11 +1937,24 @@ char *xbps_pubkey2fp(struct xbps_handle *xhp, xbps_data_t pubkey);
  * Returns a buffer with a sanitized path from \a src.
  * This removes multiple slashes.
  *
+ * @param[in] src A path.
+ *
  * @return The sanitized path in a buffer.
  * The returned buffer must be free(3)d when it's no longer necessary.
  */
 char *xbps_sanitize_path(const char *src);
 
+/**
+ * Returns a sanitized target file of \a path without the rootdir component.
+ *
+ * @param[in] xhp The pointer to an xbps_handle struct.
+ * @param[in] path A path to a filename.
+ *
+ * @return The sanitized path in a buffer.
+ * The returned buffer must be free(3)d when it's no longer necessary.
+ */
+char *xbps_symlink_target(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *path);
+
 /*@}*/
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/lib/package_remove.c b/lib/package_remove.c
index 0b586e8b..e8aa5b2a 100644
--- a/lib/package_remove.c
+++ b/lib/package_remove.c
@@ -92,60 +92,6 @@ check_remove_pkg_files(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
 	return fail;
 }
 
-static char *
-symlink_target(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *path)
-{
-	struct stat sb;
-	char *p, *p1, *dname, *lnk, *res = NULL;
-	ssize_t r;
-
-	if (lstat(path, &sb) == -1)
-		return NULL;
-
-	lnk = malloc(sb.st_size + 1);
-	assert(lnk);
-
-	r = readlink(path, lnk, sb.st_size + 1);
-	if (r < 0 || r > sb.st_size) {
-		free(lnk);
-		return NULL;
-	}
-	lnk[sb.st_size] = '\0';
-	if (strstr(lnk, "./") || lnk[0] != '/') {
-		/* relative */
-		p = strdup(path);
-		assert(p);
-		dname = dirname(p);
-		assert(dname);
-		p = xbps_xasprintf("%s/%s", dname, lnk);
-		assert(p);
-		p1 = xbps_sanitize_path(p);
-		assert(p1);
-		free(p);
-		if ((strstr(p1, "./")) && (p = realpath(p1, NULL))) {
-			if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
-				res = strdup(p);
-			else
-				res = strdup(p + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
-
-			free(p);
-		}
-		if (res == NULL) {
-			if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
-				res = strdup(p1);
-			else
-				res = strdup(p1 + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
-		}
-		assert(res);
-		free(lnk);
-		free(p1);
-	} else {
-		/* absolute */
-		res = lnk;
-	}
-	return res;
-}
-
 static int
 remove_pkg_files(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
 		 xbps_dictionary_t dict,
@@ -265,7 +211,7 @@ remove_pkg_files(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
 			const char *target = NULL;
 			char *lnk;
 
-			lnk = symlink_target(xhp, path);
+			lnk = xbps_symlink_target(xhp, path);
 			if (lnk == NULL) {
 				xbps_dbg_printf(xhp, "[remove] %s "
 				    "symlink_target: %s\n", path, strerror(errno));
diff --git a/lib/util.c b/lib/util.c
index 72b8e7d1..dc423372 100644
--- a/lib/util.c
+++ b/lib/util.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <fnmatch.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <libgen.h>
 #include <sys/utsname.h>
 
 #include "xbps_api_impl.h"
@@ -314,9 +315,8 @@ xbps_pkg_has_rundeps(xbps_dictionary_t pkgd)
 }
 
 bool
-xbps_pkg_arch_match(struct xbps_handle *xhp,
-		    const char *orig,
-		    const char *target)
+xbps_pkg_arch_match(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *orig,
+		const char *target)
 {
 	const char *arch;
 
@@ -452,3 +452,58 @@ xbps_sanitize_path(const char *src)
 
 	return dest;
 }
+
+char *
+xbps_symlink_target(struct xbps_handle *xhp, const char *path)
+{
+	struct stat sb;
+	char *p, *p1, *dname, *res = NULL, *lnk = NULL;
+	ssize_t r;
+
+	if (lstat(path, &sb) == -1)
+		return NULL;
+
+	lnk = malloc(sb.st_size + 1);
+	assert(lnk);
+
+	r = readlink(path, lnk, sb.st_size + 1);
+	if (r < 0 || r > sb.st_size) {
+		free(lnk);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	lnk[sb.st_size] = '\0';
+	if (strstr(lnk, "./") || lnk[0] != '/') {
+		/* relative */
+		p = strdup(path);
+		assert(p);
+		dname = dirname(p);
+		assert(dname);
+		p = xbps_xasprintf("%s/%s", dname, lnk);
+		assert(p);
+		p1 = xbps_sanitize_path(p);
+		assert(p1);
+		free(p);
+		if ((strstr(p1, "./")) && (p = realpath(p1, NULL))) {
+			if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
+				res = strdup(p);
+			else
+				res = strdup(p + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
+
+			free(p);
+		}
+		if (res == NULL) {
+			if (strcmp(xhp->rootdir, "/") == 0)
+				res = strdup(p1);
+			else
+				res = strdup(p1 + strlen(xhp->rootdir));
+		}
+		assert(res);
+		free(lnk);
+		free(p1);
+	} else {
+		/* absolute */
+		res = lnk;
+	}
+
+	return res;
+}