diff --git a/mesonpy/__init__.py b/mesonpy/__init__.py
index fe7768c93..566274532 100644
--- a/mesonpy/__init__.py
+++ b/mesonpy/__init__.py
@@ -966,6 +966,9 @@ def sdist(self, directory: Path) -> pathlib.Path:
                         warnings.warn(
                             f'symbolic link pointing to a directory ignored: {name}', stacklevel=1)
 
+                # Copy `member` before starting to modify it
+                member = copy.copy(member)
+
                 if member.isfile():
                     file = meson_dist.extractfile(member.name)
 
diff --git a/tests/packages/symlinks/meson.build b/tests/packages/symlinks/meson.build
index a4cd913a3..b994b0440 100644
--- a/tests/packages/symlinks/meson.build
+++ b/tests/packages/symlinks/meson.build
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
-project('symlinks', version: '1.0.0')
+project('symlinks')
 
 py = import('python').find_installation()
 
diff --git a/tests/packages/symlinks/pyproject.toml b/tests/packages/symlinks/pyproject.toml
index 0e67ab758..5a290eec3 100644
--- a/tests/packages/symlinks/pyproject.toml
+++ b/tests/packages/symlinks/pyproject.toml
@@ -5,3 +5,7 @@
 [build-system]
 build-backend = 'mesonpy'
 requires = ['meson-python']
+
+[project]
+name = 'symlinks'
+version = '1.0.0'