diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2610359..ae22479 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -131,7 +131,10 @@
         set(target "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${base_name}")
     endif()
 
-    if (NOT EXISTS ${link})
+    # Linking to non-existant file is not desirable. At best you will have a
+    # dangling link, but when building in tree, this can create a symbolic link
+    # to itself.
+    if (EXISTS ${target} AND NOT EXISTS ${link})
         if (CMAKE_HOST_UNIX)
             set(command ln -s ${target} ${link})
         else()