Replacing a (sym-) link by its target

I've been using lndir with some success during make's -- leaving the 
source tree alone and read-only, building in the link tree. 

When it comes time to change something, it seems the best way to do it 
is make the working copy in the build tree.
If I just read the link, I get the original file -- but I also try to 
replace the (read-only) original file. 

The sequence of operations otta be something like
(if (and (visited-file-is-a-link) (target-is-read-only))
    ((rename-the-link) ;; to get it out of the way
    (write-the-buffer)
    (delete-the-renamed-link))
    ; otherwise
    (write-the-buffer))

Comment?

This seems useful enough, it may exist already.  Is there such a 
function implemented.

-- 
David A. Cobb, Software Engineer, Public Access Advocate
"By God's Grace, I am a Christian man; by my actions a great sinner." -- The Way of a Pilgrim: R.French, Tr.
Life is too short to tolerate crappy software!