if (!w32_sloppystat) {
        /* We must open & close the file once; otherwise file attribute changes  */
        /* might not yet have propagated to "other" hard links of the same file. */
        /* This also gives us an opportunity to determine the number of links.   */
        HANDLE handle = CreateFileA(path, 0, 0, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, NULL);
        if (handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
            BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION bhi;
            if (GetFileInformationByHandle(handle, &bhi))
                nlink = bhi.nNumberOfLinks;
            CloseHandle(handle);
        }