diff --git a/src/lib/LibFs.sol b/src/lib/LibFs.sol
index a4439a5..10a4a2f 100644
--- a/src/lib/LibFs.sol
+++ b/src/lib/LibFs.sol
@@ -97,12 +97,18 @@ library LibFs {
     /// it found it: nothing is created, unlinked or written unless there is
     /// content to write.
     ///
-    /// Anything already at the path is unlinked before the write, so a symlink
+    /// The path is unlinked until it holds nothing, then written, so a symlink
     /// there is replaced by a regular file rather than written through to its
-    /// target, including a symlink whose target does not exist, and the path
-    /// does not exist between the unlink and the write.
-    /// Any manual changes to the generated file, or any other existing file at
-    /// that path, are lost.
+    /// target, whether or not that target exists, and the path does not exist
+    /// between the last unlink and the write. Taking a live symlink off the
+    /// path takes what it resolves to with it, because that is what the unlink
+    /// acts on first.
+    /// Any manual changes to the generated file, any other existing file at
+    /// that path, and whatever a symlink at that path resolves to, are lost.
+    ///
+    /// A directory at the path, and a symlink at the path that resolves to a
+    /// directory, are the cases this cannot unlink, and both revert rather than
+    /// being written into or through.
     ///
     /// The whole file is written on every call, so the same arguments always
     /// produce the same bytes. The prefix and bytecode hash constant are always
@@ -150,7 +156,11 @@ library LibFs {
             string.concat(LibCodeGen.filePrefix(), LibCodeGen.bytecodeHashConstantString(vm, instance), body);
         //forge-lint: disable-next-line(unsafe-cheatcode)
         vm.createDir(dir, true);
-        if (isPresent(vm, path)) {
+        // `vm.removeFile` resolves the path before it acts, so on a live symlink
+        // it takes what the link points at and leaves the link, now dangling.
+        // Every pass removes something the next one no longer finds, so this
+        // ends with the path holding nothing.
+        while (isPresent(vm, path)) {
             //forge-lint: disable-next-line(unsafe-cheatcode)
             vm.removeFile(path);
         }
diff --git a/test/src/lib/LibFs.isPresent.t.sol b/test/src/lib/LibFs.isPresent.t.sol
index 6bfdbc4..26fb33e 100644
--- a/test/src/lib/LibFs.isPresent.t.sol
+++ b/test/src/lib/LibFs.isPresent.t.sol
@@ -175,4 +175,48 @@ contract LibFsIsPresentTest is Test {
         remove(targetName);
         remove(controlFileName);
     }
+
+    /// A symlink at the generated path whose target exists is replaced by a
+    /// regular file holding the generated content, and the target does not
+    /// receive it: the write goes to the path, not through it. The target is
+    /// removed along the way, which is what makes the path free to hold a
+    /// regular file.
+    ///
+    /// The content is compared against a second contract generated at a path
+    /// that held nothing, so the claim is that the two cases produce the same
+    /// file rather than that some particular bytes appear.
+    function testBuildFileForContractReplacesLiveSymlink() external {
+        string memory name = "LibFsIsPresentLive";
+        string memory linkName = "LibFsIsPresentLive.sol";
+        string memory targetName = "LibFsIsPresentLiveTarget.txt";
+        string memory controlName = "LibFsIsPresentLiveControl";
+        string memory controlFileName = "LibFsIsPresentLiveControl.sol";
+        remove(linkName);
+        remove(targetName);
+        remove(controlFileName);
+
+        vm.writeFile(pathFor(targetName), "SENTINEL");
+        symlink(linkName, targetName);
+        assertEq(LibFs.pathForContract(name), pathFor(linkName), "the link is not where the write goes");
+        assertEq(readlink(linkName).exitCode, 0, "the path under test is not a symlink");
+        assertTrue(vm.exists(pathFor(linkName)), "the link does not resolve");
+        assertEq(vm.readFile(pathFor(targetName)), "SENTINEL", "the link target is not the seeded file");
+
+        string memory body = "\n// live\n";
+        LibFs.buildFileForContract(vm, address(this), name, body);
+        LibFs.buildFileForContract(vm, address(this), controlName, body);
+
+        bool linkIsStillASymlink = readlink(linkName).exitCode == 0;
+        bool targetExists = vm.exists(pathFor(targetName));
+        string memory written = vm.readFile(pathFor(linkName));
+        string memory control = vm.readFile(pathFor(controlFileName));
+
+        remove(linkName);
+        remove(targetName);
+        remove(controlFileName);
+
+        assertFalse(linkIsStillASymlink, "the path is still a symlink");
+        assertFalse(targetExists, "the link target survived the write");
+        assertEq(written, control, "the file at the path is not what a write to a path holding nothing produces");
+    }
 }