diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/path.py b/meta/lib/oe/path.py
index 90c87f5..c6bb604 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/path.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/path.py
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ def copytree(src, dst):
     subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
 
 def copyhardlinktree(src, dst):
-    """ Make the hard link when possible, otherwise copy. """
+    """Make a tree of hard links when possible, otherwise copy."""
     bb.utils.mkdirhier(dst)
     if os.path.isdir(src) and not len(os.listdir(src)):
         return
@@ -118,6 +118,17 @@ def copyhardlinktree(src, dst):
     else:
         copytree(src, dst)
 
+def copyhardlink(src, dst):
+    """Make a hard link when possible, otherwise copy."""
+
+    # We need to stat the destination directory as the destination file probably
+    # doesn't exist yet.
+    dstdir = os.path.dirname(dst)
+    if os.stat(src).st_dev == os.stat(dstdir).st_dev:
+        os.link(src, dst)
+    else:
+        shutil.copy(src, dst)
+
 def remove(path, recurse=True):
     """
     Equivalent to rm -f or rm -rf