diff --git a/tests/common.py b/tests/common.py
index 1aef9e62..df235693 100644
--- a/tests/common.py
+++ b/tests/common.py
@@ -58,11 +58,19 @@ def build_temp_workspace(files):
     tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='yamllint-tests-')
 
     for path, content in files.items():
+        is_symlink = False
+        if path.startswith("symlink:"):
+            is_symlink = True
+            path = path.replace("symlink:", "")
+
         path = os.path.join(tempdir, path).encode('utf-8')
         if not os.path.exists(os.path.dirname(path)):
             os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(path))
+        if is_symlink:
+            target = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), content.encode('utf-8'))
+            os.symlink(target, path)
 
-        if isinstance(content, list):
+        elif isinstance(content, list):
             os.mkdir(path)
         else:
             mode = 'wb' if isinstance(content, bytes) else 'w'
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index bcdd000b..7dd6c015 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ def setUpModule():
 
 
 class CommandLineTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+    maxDiff = None
+
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
         super().setUpClass()
@@ -130,7 +132,9 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
                       'a: true',
             'en.yaml': '---\n'
                        'a: true\n'
-                       'A: true'
+                       'A: true',
+            'symlink:some/other/directory/en.yaml': '../../../en.yaml',
+            'symlink:abslink.yml': '/tmp/non-exist.yml',
         })
 
     @classmethod
@@ -142,7 +146,7 @@ def tearDownClass(cls):
     def test_find_files_recursively(self):
         conf = config.YamlLintConfig('extends: default')
         self.assertEqual(
-            sorted(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf)),
+            sorted(set(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf))),
             [os.path.join(self.wd, 'a.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'c.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'dos.yml'),
@@ -151,7 +155,7 @@ def test_find_files_recursively(self):
              os.path.join(self.wd, 's/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/file.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'sub/directory.yaml/empty.yml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'sub/ok.yaml'),
-             os.path.join(self.wd, 'warn.yaml')],
+             os.path.join(self.wd, 'warn.yaml')]
         )
 
         items = [os.path.join(self.wd, 'sub/ok.yaml'),
@@ -182,7 +186,7 @@ def test_find_files_recursively(self):
                                      'yaml-files:\n'
                                      '  - \'*.yaml\' \n')
         self.assertEqual(
-            sorted(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf)),
+            sorted(set(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf))),
             [os.path.join(self.wd, 'a.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'c.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'en.yaml'),
@@ -213,7 +217,7 @@ def test_find_files_recursively(self):
                                      'yaml-files:\n'
                                      '  - \'*\'\n')
         self.assertEqual(
-            sorted(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf)),
+            sorted(set(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf))),
             [os.path.join(self.wd, 'a.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'c.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'dos.yml'),
@@ -234,7 +238,7 @@ def test_find_files_recursively(self):
                                      '  - \'*\'\n'
                                      '  - \'**\'\n')
         self.assertEqual(
-            sorted(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf)),
+            sorted(set(cli.find_files_recursively([self.wd], conf))),
             [os.path.join(self.wd, 'a.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'c.yaml'),
              os.path.join(self.wd, 'dos.yml'),
diff --git a/yamllint/cli.py b/yamllint/cli.py
index 8d13000a..16e28fdf 100644
--- a/yamllint/cli.py
+++ b/yamllint/cli.py
@@ -30,8 +30,17 @@ def find_files_recursively(items, conf):
             for root, _dirnames, filenames in os.walk(item):
                 for f in filenames:
                     filepath = os.path.join(root, f)
-                    if conf.is_yaml_file(filepath):
-                        yield filepath
+                    if conf.is_yaml_file(filepath)  and not conf.is_file_ignored(filepath):
+                        if os.path.islink(filepath):
+                            target_path = os.readlink(filepath)
+                            relative_path = os.path.join(filepath, target_path)
+                            if os.path.exists(relative_path):
+                                norm_path = os.path.normpath(relative_path)
+                                if conf.is_yaml_file(norm_path) and not conf.is_file_ignored(norm_path):
+                                    yield norm_path
+
+                        elif conf.is_yaml_file(filepath):
+                            yield filepath
         else:
             yield item
 
@@ -208,14 +217,14 @@ def run(argv=None):
         locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, conf.locale)
 
     if args.list_files:
-        for file in find_files_recursively(args.files, conf):
+        for file in set(find_files_recursively(args.files, conf)):
             if not conf.is_file_ignored(file):
                 print(file)
         sys.exit(0)
 
     max_level = 0
 
-    for file in find_files_recursively(args.files, conf):
+    for file in set(find_files_recursively(args.files, conf)):
         filepath = file[2:] if file.startswith('./') else file
         try:
             with open(file, newline='') as f: