diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/CHANGELOG.md b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/CHANGELOG.md
index 9e303821e636..09ca3508c02a 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 CHANGELOG
 =========
 
+3.2.0
+-----
+
+ * added `readlink()` as a platform independent method to read links
+
 3.0.0
 -----
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Filesystem.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Filesystem.php
index f6debe9e6701..69548ba77503 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Filesystem.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Filesystem.php
@@ -383,6 +383,47 @@ private function linkException($origin, $target, $linkType)
         throw new IOException(sprintf('Failed to create %s link from "%s" to "%s".', $linkType, $origin, $target), 0, null, $target);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Resolves links in paths.
+     *
+     * With $canonicalize = false (default)
+     *      - if $path does not exist or is not a link, returns null
+     *      - if $path is a link, returns the next direct target of the link without considering the existence of the target
+     *
+     * With $canonicalize = true
+     *      - if $path does not exist, returns null
+     *      - if $path exists, returns its absolute fully resolved final version
+     *
+     * @param string $path         A filesystem path
+     * @param bool   $canonicalize Whether or not to return a canonicalized path
+     *
+     * @return string|null
+     */
+    public function readlink($path, $canonicalize = false)
+    {
+        if (!$canonicalize && !is_link($path)) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if ($canonicalize) {
+            if (!$this->exists($path)) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if ('\\' === DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) {
+                $path = readlink($path);
+            }
+
+            return realpath($path);
+        }
+
+        if ('\\' === DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) {
+            return realpath($path);
+        }
+
+        return readlink($path);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Given an existing path, convert it to a path relative to a given starting path.
      *
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Tests/FilesystemTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Tests/FilesystemTest.php
index b1d3d128b6fc..dc6338a8bbb6 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Tests/FilesystemTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/Tests/FilesystemTest.php
@@ -957,6 +957,97 @@ public function testLinkWithSameTarget()
         $this->assertEquals(fileinode($file), fileinode($link));
     }
 
+    public function testReadRelativeLink()
+    {
+        $this->markAsSkippedIfSymlinkIsMissing();
+
+        if ('\\' === DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped('Relative symbolic links are not supported on Windows');
+        }
+
+        $file = $this->workspace.'/file';
+        $link1 = $this->workspace.'/dir/link';
+        $link2 = $this->workspace.'/dir/link2';
+        touch($file);
+
+        $this->filesystem->symlink('../file', $link1);
+        $this->filesystem->symlink('link', $link2);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($this->normalize('../file'), $this->filesystem->readlink($link1));
+        $this->assertEquals('link', $this->filesystem->readlink($link2));
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link1, true));
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link2, true));
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($file, true));
+    }
+
+    public function testReadAbsoluteLink()
+    {
+        $this->markAsSkippedIfSymlinkIsMissing();
+
+        $file = $this->normalize($this->workspace.'/file');
+        $link1 = $this->normalize($this->workspace.'/dir/link');
+        $link2 = $this->normalize($this->workspace.'/dir/link2');
+        touch($file);
+
+        $this->filesystem->symlink($file, $link1);
+        $this->filesystem->symlink($link1, $link2);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link1));
+        $this->assertEquals($link1, $this->filesystem->readlink($link2));
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link1, true));
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link2, true));
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($file, true));
+    }
+
+    public function testReadBrokenLink()
+    {
+        $this->markAsSkippedIfSymlinkIsMissing();
+
+        if ('\\' === DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped('Windows does not support creating "broken" symlinks');
+        }
+
+        $file = $this->workspace.'/file';
+        $link = $this->workspace.'/link';
+
+        $this->filesystem->symlink($file, $link);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link));
+        $this->assertNull($this->filesystem->readlink($link, true));
+
+        touch($file);
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($link, true));
+    }
+
+    public function testReadLinkDefaultPathDoesNotExist()
+    {
+        $this->assertNull($this->filesystem->readlink($this->normalize($this->workspace.'/invalid')));
+    }
+
+    public function testReadLinkDefaultPathNotLink()
+    {
+        $file = $this->normalize($this->workspace.'/file');
+        touch($file);
+
+        $this->assertNull($this->filesystem->readlink($file));
+    }
+
+    public function testReadLinkCanonicalizePath()
+    {
+        $this->markAsSkippedIfSymlinkIsMissing();
+
+        $file = $this->normalize($this->workspace.'/file');
+        mkdir($this->normalize($this->workspace.'/dir'));
+        touch($file);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($file, $this->filesystem->readlink($this->normalize($this->workspace.'/dir/../file'), true));
+    }
+
+    public function testReadLinkCanonicalizedPathDoesNotExist()
+    {
+        $this->assertNull($this->filesystem->readlink($this->normalize($this->workspace.'invalid'), true));
+    }
+
     /**
      * @dataProvider providePathsForMakePathRelative
      */
@@ -1321,4 +1412,16 @@ public function testCopyShouldKeepExecutionPermission()
 
         $this->assertFilePermissions(767, $targetFilePath);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Normalize the given path (transform each blackslash into a real directory separator).
+     *
+     * @param string $path
+     *
+     * @return string
+     */
+    private function normalize($path)
+    {
+        return str_replace('/', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR, $path);
+    }
 }