Pull request diffs don’t display symbolic links clearly

[corneliusroemer]

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When a pull request adds, modifies, or type-changes a symbolic link, the Files changed tab doesn’t display the symlink metadata in a reviewer-friendly way.

Currently:

• The symlink is rendered as if it were a regular text file containing its target path.
• Type changes (e.g. file → symlink → file) appear as complete file removals/additions instead of a mode change (100644 ↔ 120000), so reviewers can’t easily see that only the file type changed.
• The target path text isn’t clickable or highlighted, and reviewers have no quick way to verify what the link points to in that commit.

This makes reviewing symlink updates and security-sensitive packaging changes harder than it should be.

The diff only shows somewhat properly when opening the full file itself in the PR preview. Not in the summary of all changes:

Expected behavior

• Show symlink entries explicitly as “symlink → target/path”, distinct from file content.
• Display file-mode change (100644 ↔ 120000) when applicable.
• Make the target clickable to its blob in the same commit.

To reproduce

1. Create a repo and commit a regular file file.txt.
2. In a branch, replace it with a symlink: ln -s target file.txt.
3. Open a PR and view Files changed.
4. Observe that the diff treats the symlink as file content, not metadata.

Prior discussions

• Resolve symlinks when previewing files #54449

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