Open_basedir prevents listing symlink files in php - php

Question

I have a function which returns the current files in a directory. Sometimes it contains symlinks which point outside of my web directory. Unfortunately, when I add a "open_basedir" restriction in my php ini file, the symlinked files are not visible anymore to PHP.
php.ini file:
[PHP]
...
open_basedir="/var/www"
...
This is partly understandable because the symlink points to a file outside the allowed directory. But I only need the filename of the symlink itself (not the original file). Why PHP cannot see/list the names of a symlinked file is a mystery for me.
I use this function to get the filelist of a directory:
function getFileList($dir)
{
// array to hold return value
$retval = array();
// add trailing slash if missing
if(substr($dir, -1) != "/") $dir .= "/";
// open pointer to directory and read list of files
$d = #dir($dir) or die("getFileList: Failed opening directory $dir for reading");
while(false !== ($entry = $d->read())) {
// skip hidden files
if($entry[0] == ".") continue;
if(is_dir("$dir$entry")) {
$retval[] = array(
"name" => "$dir$entry/",
"type" => filetype("$dir$entry"),
"size" => 0,
"lastmod" => filemtime("$dir$entry")
);
} elseif(is_readable("$dir$entry")) {
$retval[] = array(
"name" => "$dir$entry",
"type" => mime_content_type("$dir$entry"),
"size" => filesize("$dir$entry"),
"lastmod" => filemtime("$dir$entry")
);
}
}
$d->close();
return $retval;
}
Should I use another function or is this some kind of glitch in PHP?