diff --git a/gio/glocalfileinfo.c b/gio/glocalfileinfo.c
index 7933ed96a..b4e77d925 100644
--- a/gio/glocalfileinfo.c
+++ b/gio/glocalfileinfo.c
@@ -1877,13 +1877,15 @@ set_unix_mode (char                       *filename,
   
   if (!get_uint32 (value, &val, error))
     return FALSE;
-  
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SYMLINK
   if (flags & G_FILE_QUERY_INFO_NOFOLLOW_SYMLINKS) {
     g_set_error_literal (error, G_IO_ERROR,
                          G_IO_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED,
                          _("Cannot set permissions on symlinks"));
     return FALSE;
   }
+#endif
 
   if (g_chmod (filename, val) == -1)
     {