Raise when using a bad symlink

railties/lib/rails/paths.rb

@@ -205,7 +205,14 @@ def expanded
 
       # Returns all expanded paths but only if they exist in the filesystem.
       def existent
-        expanded.select { |f| File.exist?(f) }
+        expanded.select do |f|
+          does_exist = File.exist?(f)
+
+          if !does_exist && File.symlink?(f)
+            raise "File #{f.inspect} is a symlink that does not point to a valid file"
+          end
+          does_exist
+        end
       end
 
       def existent_directories

railties/test/paths_test.rb

@@ -274,3 +274,23 @@ def setup
     end
   end
 end
+
+class PathsIntegrationTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  test "A failed symlink is still a valid file" do
+    Dir.mktmpdir do |dir|
+      Dir.chdir(dir) do
+        FileUtils.mkdir_p("foo")
+        File.symlink("foo/doesnotexist.rb", "foo/bar.rb")
+        assert_equal true, File.symlink?("foo/bar.rb")
+
+        root = Rails::Paths::Root.new("foo")
+        root.add "bar.rb"
+
+        exception = assert_raises(RuntimeError) do
+          root["bar.rb"].existent
+        end
+        assert_match File.expand_path("foo/bar.rb"), exception.message
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end