diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 8c5fb1e1ba..16b34799bf 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1785,6 +1785,20 @@ int copy_fd(int ifd, int ofd);
 int copy_file(const char *dst, const char *src, int mode);
 int copy_file_with_time(const char *dst, const char *src, int mode);
 
+/*
+ * Compare the file mode and contents of two given files.
+ *
+ * If both files are actually symbolic links, the function returns 1 if the link
+ * targets are identical or 0 if they are not.
+ *
+ * If any of the two files cannot be accessed or in case of read failures, this
+ * function returns 0.
+ *
+ * If the file modes and contents are identical, the function returns 1,
+ * otherwise it returns 0.
+ */
+int do_files_match(const char *path1, const char *path2);
+
 void write_or_die(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count);
 void fsync_or_die(int fd, const char *);
 int fsync_component(enum fsync_component component, int fd);
diff --git a/copy.c b/copy.c
index 4de6a110f0..8492f6fc83 100644
--- a/copy.c
+++ b/copy.c
@@ -65,3 +65,61 @@ int copy_file_with_time(const char *dst, const char *src, int mode)
 		return copy_times(dst, src);
 	return status;
 }
+
+static int do_symlinks_match(const char *path1, const char *path2)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf1 = STRBUF_INIT, buf2 = STRBUF_INIT;
+	int ret = 0;
+
+	if (!strbuf_readlink(&buf1, path1, 0) &&
+	    !strbuf_readlink(&buf2, path2, 0))
+		ret = !strcmp(buf1.buf, buf2.buf);
+
+	strbuf_release(&buf1);
+	strbuf_release(&buf2);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+int do_files_match(const char *path1, const char *path2)
+{
+	struct stat st1, st2;
+	int fd1 = -1, fd2 = -1, ret = 1;
+	char buf1[8192], buf2[8192];
+
+	if ((fd1 = open_nofollow(path1, O_RDONLY)) < 0 ||
+	    fstat(fd1, &st1) || !S_ISREG(st1.st_mode)) {
+		if (fd1 < 0 && errno == ELOOP)
+			/* maybe this is a symbolic link? */
+			return do_symlinks_match(path1, path2);
+		ret = 0;
+	} else if ((fd2 = open_nofollow(path2, O_RDONLY)) < 0 ||
+		   fstat(fd2, &st2) || !S_ISREG(st2.st_mode)) {
+		ret = 0;
+	}
+
+	if (ret)
+		/* to match, neither must be executable, or both */
+		ret = !(st1.st_mode & 0111) == !(st2.st_mode & 0111);
+
+	if (ret)
+		ret = st1.st_size == st2.st_size;
+
+	while (ret) {
+		ssize_t len1 = read_in_full(fd1, buf1, sizeof(buf1));
+		ssize_t len2 = read_in_full(fd2, buf2, sizeof(buf2));
+
+		if (len1 < 0 || len2 < 0 || len1 != len2)
+			ret = 0; /* read error or different file size */
+		else if (!len1) /* len2 is also 0; hit EOF on both */
+			break; /* ret is still true */
+		else
+			ret = !memcmp(buf1, buf2, len1);
+	}
+
+	if (fd1 >= 0)
+		close(fd1);
+	if (fd2 >= 0)
+		close(fd2);
+
+	return ret;
+}
diff --git a/t/helper/test-path-utils.c b/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
index f69709d674..0e0de21807 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-path-utils.c
@@ -495,6 +495,16 @@ int cmd__path_utils(int argc, const char **argv)
 		return !!res;
 	}
 
+	if (argc == 4 && !strcmp(argv[1], "do_files_match")) {
+		int ret = do_files_match(argv[2], argv[3]);
+
+		if (ret)
+			printf("equal\n");
+		else
+			printf("different\n");
+		return !ret;
+	}
+
 	fprintf(stderr, "%s: unknown function name: %s\n", argv[0],
 		argv[1] ? argv[1] : "(there was none)");
 	return 1;
diff --git a/t/t0060-path-utils.sh b/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
index 68e29c904a..73d0e1a7f1 100755
--- a/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
+++ b/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
@@ -560,4 +560,45 @@ test_expect_success !VALGRIND,RUNTIME_PREFIX,CAN_EXEC_IN_PWD '%(prefix)/ works'
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'do_files_match()' '
+	test_seq 0 10 >0-10.txt &&
+	test_seq -1 10 >-1-10.txt &&
+	test_seq 1 10 >1-10.txt &&
+	test_seq 1 9 >1-9.txt &&
+	test_seq 0 8 >0-8.txt &&
+
+	test-tool path-utils do_files_match 0-10.txt 0-10.txt >out &&
+
+	assert_fails() {
+		test_must_fail \
+		test-tool path-utils do_files_match "$1" "$2" >out &&
+		grep different out
+	} &&
+
+	assert_fails 0-8.txt 1-9.txt &&
+	assert_fails -1-10.txt 0-10.txt &&
+	assert_fails 1-10.txt 1-9.txt &&
+	assert_fails 1-10.txt .git &&
+	assert_fails does-not-exist 1-10.txt &&
+
+	if test_have_prereq FILEMODE
+	then
+		cp 0-10.txt 0-10.x &&
+		chmod a+x 0-10.x &&
+		assert_fails 0-10.txt 0-10.x
+	fi &&
+
+	if test_have_prereq SYMLINKS
+	then
+		ln -sf 0-10.txt symlink &&
+		ln -s 0-10.txt another-symlink &&
+		ln -s over-the-ocean yet-another-symlink &&
+		ln -s "$PWD/0-10.txt" absolute-symlink &&
+		assert_fails 0-10.txt symlink &&
+		test-tool path-utils do_files_match symlink another-symlink &&
+		assert_fails symlink yet-another-symlink &&
+		assert_fails symlink absolute-symlink
+	fi
+'
+
 test_done