diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index cdba62f..ebe243c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-2017-04-04
+2017-04-05
 
         * Version 1.3.0 released
         ========================
 
+        Copy cscripts into bin directory instead of creating a symbolic links (#1987)
         If code originates from Git, always compile the Python bindings (#1985)
         Raise exception instead of exiting with return code in Python tests (#1983)
         Support of map cubes lying outside RoI in ctobssim 
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 79b1142..60abd03 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 New Features and Important Changes in ctools 1.3.0.dev1
 
-4 April 2017
+5 April 2017
 
 
 Introduction
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ This solves the problem that occured for developers that could not get rid
 of existing Python wrappers, even if they modified the Python interface
 (#1985).
 
+The cscripts are now copied into the bin directory upon installation instead
+of creating symbolic links. This avoids problems on some VM file systems on
+which creation of symbolic links does not work (#1987).
+
 
 Python interface
 ----------------
diff --git a/cscripts/Makefile.am b/cscripts/Makefile.am
index 09736f5..02d9f5b 100644
--- a/cscripts/Makefile.am
+++ b/cscripts/Makefile.am
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ EXTRA_DIST = $(binscripts) $(pythonscripts) $(parfiles) \
              $(testscripts) $(testdata) $(testiactdata) \
              $(testiactevents)
 
-# Add install hook rule to create symbolic links for cscripts
+# Add install hook rule to copy cscripts without .py into the bindir
 install-data-hook:
 	@binlist='$(binscripts)';\
 	for p in $$binlist; do \
@@ -232,11 +232,11 @@ install-data-hook:
 	@linklist='$(linkscripts)';\
 	for p in $$linklist; do \
 		rm -rf "$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/$$p"; \
-		ln -s "$(DESTDIR)$(pyexecdir)/cscripts/$$p.py" "$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/$$p"; \
-		chmod +x "$(DESTDIR)$(pyexecdir)/cscripts/$$p.py"; \
+		cp "$(DESTDIR)$(pyexecdir)/cscripts/$$p.py" "$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/$$p"; \
+		chmod +x "$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/$$p"; \
 	done
 
-# Uninstall hook rule to remove the symbolic links for cscripts
+# Uninstall hook rule to remove the cscripts from the bindir
 uninstall-hook:
 	@linklist='$(linkscripts)';\
 	for p in $$linklist; do \