diff --git a/combine-diff.c b/combine-diff.c
index a5f2c8dd4a..6b7c6be959 100644
--- a/combine-diff.c
+++ b/combine-diff.c
@@ -678,9 +678,25 @@ static void show_patch_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
 	else {
 		/* Used by diff-tree to read from the working tree */
 		struct stat st;
-		int fd;
-		if (0 <= (fd = open(elem->path, O_RDONLY)) &&
-		    !fstat(fd, &st)) {
+		int fd = -1;
+
+		if (lstat(elem->path, &st) < 0)
+			goto deleted_file;
+
+		if (S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) {
+			int len = st.st_size;
+			result_size = len;
+			result = xmalloc(len + 1);
+			if (result_size != readlink(elem->path, result, len)) {
+				error("readlink(%s): %s", elem->path,
+				      strerror(errno));
+				return;
+			}
+			result[len] = 0;
+			elem->mode = canon_mode(st.st_mode);
+		}
+		else if (0 <= (fd = open(elem->path, O_RDONLY)) &&
+			 !fstat(fd, &st)) {
 			int len = st.st_size;
 			int sz = 0;
 
@@ -698,11 +714,12 @@ static void show_patch_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
 			result[len] = 0;
 		}
 		else {
-			/* deleted file */
+		deleted_file:
 			result_size = 0;
 			elem->mode = 0;
 			result = xcalloc(1, 1);
 		}
+
 		if (0 <= fd)
 			close(fd);
 	}
diff --git a/diff-lib.c b/diff-lib.c
index 556d5345bf..60c0fa6488 100644
--- a/diff-lib.c
+++ b/diff-lib.c
@@ -41,17 +41,27 @@ int run_diff_files(struct rev_info *revs, int silent_on_removed)
 
 			path_len = ce_namelen(ce);
 
-			dpath = xmalloc (combine_diff_path_size (5, path_len));
+			dpath = xmalloc(combine_diff_path_size(5, path_len));
 			dpath->path = (char *) &(dpath->parent[5]);
 
 			dpath->next = NULL;
 			dpath->len = path_len;
 			memcpy(dpath->path, ce->name, path_len);
 			dpath->path[path_len] = '\0';
-			dpath->mode = 0;
 			hashclr(dpath->sha1);
 			memset(&(dpath->parent[0]), 0,
-					sizeof(struct combine_diff_parent)*5);
+			       sizeof(struct combine_diff_parent)*5);
+
+			if (lstat(ce->name, &st) < 0) {
+				if (errno != ENOENT && errno != ENOTDIR) {
+					perror(ce->name);
+					continue;
+				}
+				if (silent_on_removed)
+					continue;
+			}
+			else
+				dpath->mode = canon_mode(st.st_mode);
 
 			while (i < entries) {
 				struct cache_entry *nce = active_cache[i];