diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-checkout.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-checkout.c
index 392e16fd..71511824 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-checkout.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-checkout.c
@@ -479,7 +479,6 @@ checkout_one_file_at (OstreeRepo                        *repo,
             (current_repo->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_BARE
              && options->mode == OSTREE_REPO_CHECKOUT_MODE_NONE) ||
             (repo_is_usermode && options->mode == OSTREE_REPO_CHECKOUT_MODE_USER);
-          gboolean is_bare = is_hardlinkable && !is_bare_user_symlink;
           gboolean current_can_cache = (options->enable_uncompressed_cache
                                         && current_repo->enable_uncompressed_cache);
           gboolean is_archive_z2_with_cache = (current_repo->mode == OSTREE_REPO_MODE_ARCHIVE_Z2
@@ -491,6 +490,7 @@ checkout_one_file_at (OstreeRepo                        *repo,
            * as well as write_object().
            */
           is_bare_user_symlink = (repo_is_usermode && is_symlink);
+          const gboolean is_bare = is_hardlinkable && !is_bare_user_symlink;
 
           /* Verify if no_copy_fallback is set that we can hardlink, with a
            * special exception for bare-user symlinks.
diff --git a/tests/basic-test.sh b/tests/basic-test.sh
index 294854bf..f4b2b118 100644
--- a/tests/basic-test.sh
+++ b/tests/basic-test.sh
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ validate_checkout_basic() {
      assert_has_file baz/cow
      assert_file_has_content baz/cow moo
      assert_has_file baz/deeper/ohyeah
+     assert_symlink_has_content somelink nosuchfile
      )
 }