diff --git a/modules/files.c b/modules/files.c
index 109f4af..c3fef5b 100644
--- a/modules/files.c
+++ b/modules/files.c
@@ -360,6 +360,8 @@ editing_open(struct lu_module *module, const char *file_suffix,
 	     struct lu_error **error)
 {
 	struct editing *e;
+	struct stat st;
+	char *tmp;
 	char *backup_name;
 	int fd;
 
@@ -391,7 +393,23 @@ editing_open(struct lu_module *module, const char *file_suffix,
 		goto err_fscreate;
 	close(fd);
 
-	e->new_filename = g_strconcat(e->filename, "+", NULL);
+	/* If file is a symlink, create new file at target location,
+	 * otherwise later rename() could fail, because symlink and target
+	 * can be at different directories which could mean different mount
+	 * points. This is especially true for containers and ostree */
+	if (lstat(e->filename, &st) == 0 && S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)) {
+		tmp = realpath(e->filename, NULL);
+		if (tmp == NULL) {
+			lu_error_new(error, lu_error_generic,
+				     _("Error resolving `%s': %s"), e->filename,
+				     strerror(errno));
+			goto err_fscreate;
+		}
+		e->new_filename = g_strconcat(tmp, "+", NULL);
+		free(tmp);
+	} else {
+		e->new_filename = g_strconcat(e->filename, "+", NULL);
+	}
 	e->new_fd = open_and_copy_file(e->filename, e->new_filename, TRUE,
 			       	       error);
 	if (e->new_fd == -1)