diff --git a/lib/std/private/ossymlinks.nim b/lib/std/private/ossymlinks.nim
index c0774b5735c1..c1760c42ec56 100644
--- a/lib/std/private/ossymlinks.nim
+++ b/lib/std/private/ossymlinks.nim
@@ -66,11 +66,13 @@ proc expandSymlink*(symlinkPath: string): string {.noWeirdTarget.} =
   when defined(windows) or defined(nintendoswitch):
     result = symlinkPath
   else:
-    result = newString(maxSymlinkLen)
-    var len = readlink(symlinkPath, result.cstring, maxSymlinkLen)
-    if len < 0:
-      raiseOSError(osLastError(), symlinkPath)
-    if len > maxSymlinkLen:
-      result = newString(len+1)
-      len = readlink(symlinkPath, result.cstring, len)
-    setLen(result, len)
+    var bufLen = 1024
+    while true:
+      result = newString(bufLen)
+      let len = readlink(symlinkPath.cstring, result.cstring, bufLen)
+      if len < 0:
+        raiseOSError(osLastError(), symlinkPath)
+      if len < bufLen:
+        result.setLen(len)
+        break
+      bufLen = bufLen shl 1