`dotnet pack` is replacing symbolic links with actual files

[vadi2]

dotnet pack is replacing symbolic links with actual files, instead of keeping them as symbolic links - which is a problem when shipping Linux libraries. As an example I have an original folder with 116M worth of files:

qt-runtime-linux/qt/lib$ ls -lh
total 116M
lrwxrwxrwx 1 chromebook chromebook   18 Aug  2  2020 libicudata.so -> libicudata.so.56.1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 chromebook chromebook   18 Aug  2  2020 libicudata.so.56 -> libicudata.so.56.1
-rwxr-xr-x 1 chromebook chromebook  24M Aug  2  2020 libicudata.so.56.1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 chromebook chromebook   18 Aug  2  2020 libicui18n.so -> libicui18n.so.56.1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 chromebook chromebook   18 Aug  2  2020 libicui18n.so.56 -> libicui18n.so.56.1
-rwxr-xr-x 1 chromebook chromebook 3.3M Aug  2  2020 libicui18n.so.56.1
// ...

When added to a package using <None Update="qt-runtime-linux/**/*.*" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" />, the following happens - package size is increased 4X:

tools/net5.0/any/qt-runtime-linux/qt/lib$ ls -lh
total 430M
-r--r--r-- 1 chromebook chromebook  24M Aug  2  2020 libicudata.so
-r--r--r-- 1 chromebook chromebook  24M Aug  2  2020 libicudata.so.56
-r--r--r-- 1 chromebook chromebook  24M Aug  2  2020 libicudata.so.56.1
-r--r--r-- 1 chromebook chromebook 3.3M Aug  2  2020 libicui18n.so
-r--r--r-- 1 chromebook chromebook 3.3M Aug  2  2020 libicui18n.so.56
-r--r--r-- 1 chromebook chromebook 3.3M Aug  2  2020 libicui18n.so.56.1

Is there a way to get the symbolic links to be treated as they are?

[wli3]

Sorry that .NET build system does not support symbolic links at this point