diff -r 6d278f426417 Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py	Fri Jul 05 18:05:29 2013 -1000
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py	Sat Jul 06 14:21:31 2013 +0200
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@
                 alts = fn
                 got_it = False
                 for fn in alts:
-                    if os.path.exists(fn):
+                    if os.path.exists(fn) or os.path.islink(fn):
                         got_it = True
                         self.filelist.append(fn)
                         break
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@
                     self.warn("standard file not found: should have one of " +
                               ', '.join(alts))
             else:
-                if os.path.exists(fn):
+                if os.path.exists(fn) or os.path.islink(fn):
                     self.filelist.append(fn)
                 else:
                     self.warn("standard file '%s' not found" % fn)
diff -r 6d278f426417 Lib/distutils/filelist.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/filelist.py	Fri Jul 05 18:05:29 2013 -1000
+++ b/Lib/distutils/filelist.py	Sat Jul 06 14:21:31 2013 +0200
@@ -264,12 +264,12 @@
                 fullname = name
 
             # Avoid excess stat calls -- just one will do, thank you!
-            stat = os.stat(fullname)
+            stat = os.lstat(fullname)
             mode = stat[ST_MODE]
-            if S_ISREG(mode):
+            if S_ISDIR(mode) and not S_ISLNK(mode):
+                push(fullname)
+            elif S_ISREG(mode) or S_ISLNK(mode):
                 list.append(fullname)
-            elif S_ISDIR(mode) and not S_ISLNK(mode):
-                push(fullname)
     return list