diff --git a/include/git2/blob.h b/include/git2/blob.h
index 1cfff841d..e366ce880 100644
--- a/include/git2/blob.h
+++ b/include/git2/blob.h
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ GIT_EXTERN(int) git_blob_rawsize(git_blob *blob);
  *	relative to the repository's working dir
  * @return 0 on success; error code otherwise
  */
-GIT_EXTERN(int) git_blob_create_fromfile(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const char *path, struct stat st);
+GIT_EXTERN(int) git_blob_create_fromfile(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const char *path);
 
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/blob.c b/src/blob.c
index b00fc25af..12f468ef7 100644
--- a/src/blob.c
+++ b/src/blob.c
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ int git_blob_create_frombuffer(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const void *b
 	return GIT_SUCCESS;
 }
 
-int git_blob_create_fromfile(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const char *path, struct stat st)
+int git_blob_create_fromfile(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const char *path)
 {
 	int error, islnk;
 	int fd = 0;
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ int git_blob_create_fromfile(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const char *pat
 	char buffer[2048];
 	git_off_t size;
 	git_odb_stream *stream;
+	struct stat st;
+
+	gitfo_lstat(path, &st);
 
 	islnk = S_ISLNK(st.st_mode);
 
diff --git a/src/index.c b/src/index.c
index afd9cfccd..3d2e72e56 100644
--- a/src/index.c
+++ b/src/index.c
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ static int index_init_entry(git_index_entry *entry, git_index *index, const char
 	entry->file_size = st.st_size;
 
 	/* write the blob to disk and get the oid */
-	if ((error = git_blob_create_fromfile(&entry->oid, index->repository, rel_path, st)) < GIT_SUCCESS)
+	if ((error = git_blob_create_fromfile(&entry->oid, index->repository, rel_path)) < GIT_SUCCESS)
 		return git__rethrow(error, "Failed to initialize index entry");
 
 	entry->flags |= (stage << GIT_IDXENTRY_STAGESHIFT);