diff --git a/builtin-fsck.c b/builtin-fsck.c
index 4d8b66c344..f22de8deaa 100644
--- a/builtin-fsck.c
+++ b/builtin-fsck.c
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ static int fsck_tree(struct tree *item)
 		case S_IFREG | 0644:
 		case S_IFLNK:
 		case S_IFDIR:
+		case S_IFDIRLNK:
 			break;
 		/*
 		 * This is nonstandard, but we had a few of these
@@ -695,8 +696,14 @@ int cmd_fsck(int argc, char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		int i;
 		read_cache();
 		for (i = 0; i < active_nr; i++) {
-			struct blob *blob = lookup_blob(active_cache[i]->sha1);
+			unsigned int mode;
+			struct blob *blob;
 			struct object *obj;
+
+			mode = ntohl(active_cache[i]->ce_mode);
+			if (S_ISDIRLNK(mode))
+				continue;
+			blob = lookup_blob(active_cache[i]->sha1);
 			if (!blob)
 				continue;
 			obj = &blob->object;
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index d188c0fbae..dbb63fc525 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -143,6 +143,14 @@ struct tree *lookup_tree(const unsigned char *sha1)
 	return (struct tree *) obj;
 }
 
+/*
+ * NOTE! Tree refs to external git repositories
+ * (ie gitlinks) do not count as real references.
+ *
+ * You don't have to have those repositories
+ * available at all, much less have the objects
+ * accessible from the current repository.
+ */
 static void track_tree_refs(struct tree *item)
 {
 	int n_refs = 0, i;
@@ -152,8 +160,11 @@ static void track_tree_refs(struct tree *item)
 
 	/* Count how many entries there are.. */
 	init_tree_desc(&desc, item->buffer, item->size);
-	while (tree_entry(&desc, &entry))
+	while (tree_entry(&desc, &entry)) {
+		if (S_ISDIRLNK(entry.mode))
+			continue;
 		n_refs++;
+	}
 
 	/* Allocate object refs and walk it again.. */
 	i = 0;
@@ -162,6 +173,8 @@ static void track_tree_refs(struct tree *item)
 	while (tree_entry(&desc, &entry)) {
 		struct object *obj;
 
+		if (S_ISDIRLNK(entry.mode))
+			continue;
 		if (S_ISDIR(entry.mode))
 			obj = &lookup_tree(entry.sha1)->object;
 		else