diff --git a/src/libutil/file-system.cc b/src/libutil/file-system.cc
index ebc9a9663..c8161d270 100644
--- a/src/libutil/file-system.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/file-system.cc
@@ -31,7 +31,17 @@
 
 namespace nix {
 
-namespace fs { using namespace std::filesystem; }
+namespace fs {
+  using namespace std::filesystem;
+
+  bool symlink_exists(const std::filesystem::path & path) {
+      try {
+          return std::filesystem::exists(std::filesystem::symlink_status(path));
+      } catch (const std::filesystem::filesystem_error & e) {
+          throw SysError("cannot check existence of %1%", path);
+      }
+  }
+}
 
 bool isAbsolute(PathView path)
 {
diff --git a/src/libutil/include/nix/util/file-system.hh b/src/libutil/include/nix/util/file-system.hh
index 78b1cb46c..acae88306 100644
--- a/src/libutil/include/nix/util/file-system.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/include/nix/util/file-system.hh
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ bool pathExists(const Path & path);
 namespace fs {
 
 /**
+ * TODO: we may actually want to use pathExists instead of this function
  *  ```
  *  symlink_exists(p) = std::filesystem::exists(std::filesystem::symlink_status(p))
  *  ```
@@ -142,9 +143,7 @@ namespace fs {
  *  std::filesystem::exists(p) = std::filesystem::exists(std::filesystem::status(p))
  *  ```
  */
-inline bool symlink_exists(const std::filesystem::path & path) {
-    return std::filesystem::exists(std::filesystem::symlink_status(path));
-}
+bool symlink_exists(const std::filesystem::path & path);
 
 } // namespace fs