diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index 5ec80401206ae5..1ae2061a094598 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -2396,7 +2396,6 @@ static int create_default_files(const char *template_path,
 		repo_git_path_replace(the_repository, &path, "tXXXXXX");
 		if (!close(xmkstemp(path.buf)) &&
 		    !unlink(path.buf) &&
-		    !symlink("testing", path.buf) &&
 		    !create_symlink(NULL, "testing", path.buf) &&
 		    !lstat(path.buf, &st1) &&
 		    S_ISLNK(st1.st_mode))