diff --git a/rpmlint/pkg.py b/rpmlint/pkg.py
index 0825245df..948c75762 100644
--- a/rpmlint/pkg.py
+++ b/rpmlint/pkg.py
@@ -450,6 +450,22 @@ def _gather_dep_info(self):
         return (_requires, _prereq, _provides, _conflicts, _obsoletes, _recommends,
                 _suggests, _enhances, _supplements)
 
+    def scriptprog(self, which):
+        """
+        Get the specified script interpreter as a string.
+        Depending on rpm-python version, the string may or may not include
+        interpreter arguments, if any.
+        """
+        if which is None:
+            return ''
+        prog = self[which]
+        if prog is None:
+            prog = ''
+        elif isinstance(prog, (list, tuple)):
+            # http://rpm.org/ticket/847#comment:2
+            prog = ''.join(prog)
+        return prog
+
     def __enter__(self):
         return self
 
@@ -704,22 +720,6 @@ def check_versioned_dep(self, name, version):
                 return True
         return False
 
-    def scriptprog(self, which):
-        """
-        Get the specified script interpreter as a string.
-        Depending on rpm-python version, the string may or may not include
-        interpreter arguments, if any.
-        """
-        if which is None:
-            return ''
-        prog = self[which]
-        if prog is None:
-            prog = ''
-        elif isinstance(prog, (list, tuple)):
-            # http://rpm.org/ticket/847#comment:2
-            prog = ''.join(prog)
-        return prog
-
 
 def get_installed_pkgs(name):
     """Get list of installed package objects by name."""
@@ -796,6 +796,7 @@ def __init__(self, name, is_source=False):
             self.header[getattr(rpm, f'RPMTAG_{tagname}NAME')] = []
             self.header[getattr(rpm, f'RPMTAG_{tagname}FLAGS')] = []
             self.header[getattr(rpm, f'RPMTAG_{tagname}VERSION')] = []
+        self.header[rpm.RPMTAG_FILENAMES] = []
 
     def add_file(self, path, name):
         pkgfile = PkgFile(name)
@@ -816,7 +817,11 @@ def _mock_file(self, path, attrs):
         elif 'content' in attrs:
             content = attrs['content']
 
-        self.add_file_with_content(path, content, metadata=metadata)
+        if 'linkto' in attrs:
+            self.add_symlink_to(path, attrs['linkto'])
+        else:
+            self.add_file_with_content(path, content, metadata=metadata)
+        self.header[rpm.RPMTAG_FILENAMES].append(path)
 
         if 'content-path' in attrs:
             content.close()
@@ -852,6 +857,8 @@ def add_file_with_content(self, name, content, metadata=None, **flags):
         pkg_file = PkgFile(name)
         pkg_file.path = path
         pkg_file.mode = stat.S_IFREG | 0o0644
+        pkg_file.user = 'root'
+        pkg_file.group = 'root'
         self.files[name] = pkg_file
 
         # create files in filesystem
@@ -915,6 +922,8 @@ def add_symlink_to(self, name, target):
         pkg_file = PkgFile(name)
         pkg_file.mode = stat.S_IFLNK
         pkg_file.linkto = target
+        pkg_file.user = 'root'
+        pkg_file.group = 'root'
         self.files[name] = pkg_file
 
     def readlink(self, pkgfile):
@@ -937,3 +946,7 @@ def md5_checksum(self, file_name):
     def cleanup(self):
         if self.dirname:
             self.__tmpdir.cleanup()
+
+    # access the tags like an array
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        return self.header.get(key, None)