diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2b739b84..2b1493ad 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env python
 
+import functools
 import glob
 import os
 import subprocess
@@ -41,6 +42,27 @@ class eo_sdist(sdist):
         if os.path.exists('VERSION'):
             os.remove('VERSION')
 
+    def local_findall(self, dir=os.curdir):
+        # override default file search to allow for duplicates (as some themes have
+        # multiple variants that are just symlinks)
+        files = [
+            os.path.join(base, file) for base, dirs, files in os.walk(dir, followlinks=True) for file in files
+        ]
+        if dir == os.curdir:
+            make_rel = functools.partial(os.path.relpath, start=dir)
+            files = map(make_rel, files)
+        self.filelist.allfiles = list(filter(os.path.isfile, files))
+
+    def get_file_list(self):
+        self.filelist.findall = self.local_findall
+        super().get_file_list()
+
+    def copy_file(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        # do not allow hardlinking as hardlinks would get inserted as is in
+        # the tarball, and would not extract properly.
+        kwargs.pop('link', None)
+        super().copy_file(*args, **kwargs)
+
 
 def get_version():
     '''Use the VERSION, if absent generates a version with git describe, if not