diff --git a/lib/Directory/Simplify/File.pm b/lib/Directory/Simplify/File.pm
index 6591751..d794097 100644
--- a/lib/Directory/Simplify/File.pm
+++ b/lib/Directory/Simplify/File.pm
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package Directory::Simplify::File;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 require Cwd;
+use File::Basename qw/ dirname /;
 
 sub new {
     my $class = shift;
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ sub new {
         rel_name => $rel_name,
         name => Cwd::abs_path($rel_name),
     }, $class;
+    $self->{dirname} = dirname($self->{name});
     (@{$self}{qw/ dev ino mode nlink uid gid rdev size
                 atime mtime ctime blksize blocks /})
         = lstat $self->{name};
diff --git a/lib/Directory/Simplify/Instruction/Generator.pm b/lib/Directory/Simplify/Instruction/Generator.pm
index fdbd1d8..9fe7571 100644
--- a/lib/Directory/Simplify/Instruction/Generator.pm
+++ b/lib/Directory/Simplify/Instruction/Generator.pm
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package Directory::Simplify::Instruction::Generator;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use overload '""' => 'as_string';
-use File::Basename qw/ dirname /;
 require File::Compare;
 
 # :squash-remove-start:
@@ -95,19 +94,12 @@ sub _oldest_mtime {
     return @sorted;
 }
 
-sub more_linked {
-    my $self = shift;
-    my %warned;
-    return sort {
-        if (! -w &dirname($a->{name})) {
-            warn "Warning: $a->{name} not able to be unlinked!" unless $warned{$a->{name}}++;
-            return 1; # favor a -> front
-        } elsif (! -w &dirname($b->{name})) {
-            warn "Warning: $b->{name} not able to be unlinked!" unless $warned{$b->{name}}++;
-            return -1; # favor b -> front
-        }
+sub _more_linked {
+    my @entries = @_;
+    my @sorted = sort {
         $b->{nlink} <=> $a->{nlink}
-    } @_;
+    } @entries;
+    return @sorted;
 }
 
 sub _entries_are_already_hard_linked {
@@ -149,11 +141,20 @@ sub instructions {
     my @inst;
     foreach my $bucket ($self->buckets) {
 
-        # of the bucket, find the oldest timestamp
+        # Of the bucket, find the oldest timestamp, regardless of read-only
         my ($oldest_entry) = _oldest_mtime(@{$bucket});
 
-        # of the bucket, find the file most embedded in the file system
-        my @to_link = $self->more_linked(@{$bucket});
+        # Limit link/unlink operations to files in non-readonly directories
+        my @non_readonly;
+        foreach my $entry (@{$bucket}) {
+            unless (-w $entry->{dirname}) {
+                warn "Warning: $entry->{name} not able to be unlinked!";
+            }
+            push @non_readonly, $entry;
+        }
+
+        # Of the linkable files, find the file most embedded in the file system
+        my @to_link = _more_linked(@non_readonly);
         my $most_linked_entry = shift @to_link;
         foreach my $entry (@to_link) {
             # XXX there shouldn't be a need to update entries' link counts,