Comment 3 for bug 1752361

Check why it doesn't
$ libtool --mode=execute gdb ./src/virt-aa-helper
(gdb) b vah_add_path
(gdb) run -u libvirt-deadbeef-dead-beef-dead-beefdeadbeef -r --dryrun < /tmp/symlink-test.xml
[...]
Breakpoint 1, vah_add_path (buf=0x7fffffffd500, path=0x55555578b000 "/var/run/symlinkdisk", perms=0x55555555ff53 "rwk", recursive=false)

It seems this fails:
  virFileExists(path)

Due to that realpath is never executed and the path is taken as-is.

Breakpoint 2, virFileExists (path=0x55555578b000 "/var/run/symlinkdisk") at util/virfile.c:1860
1860 return access(path, F_OK) == 0;
(gdb) finish
Value returned is $5 = false

Ok, now things make sense.
The file does not exist so it does not try to derive.
That also is the explanation why it wasn't an issue all the time (=it mostly worked)

But there are cases - like the vhostuser mode=server - where qemu is the one that has to CREATE the file.
So the check will fail, and the path not be translated.