gistfile1.txt

#!/bin/bash -x

# describe symlink destination as ["#]file: .foo, assume $HOME

for file in dot.*; do
  dest=`grep '^[\"\#\/].*.file:' "$file"|gawk -F'[:[:space:]]' '{print \$3}'`
  dest=$(eval echo $dest)
  destdir=${dest%/*}

  if [ "$destdir" != "$dest" -a ! -d "${HOME}/${destdir}" ]; then
    #echo "mkdir $HOME/$destdir"
    mkdir -p "${HOME}/${destdir}"
  fi

  lwd=${PWD#$HOME/}

  if [ -r "${HOME}/${dest}" -o -L "${HOME}/${dest}" ]; then
    if ! cmp -s "$file" "${HOME}/${dest}"; then
      mv "${HOME}/${dest}" "${HOME}/${dest}.orig"
    else
      rm "${HOME}/${dest}"
    fi
  fi

  linktarget=${dest//[^\/]/}
  linktarget=${linktarget//\//..\/}

  echo  "${HOME}/${dest} -> ${linktarget}${lwd}/$file"
  ln -s "${linktarget}${lwd}/$file" "${HOME}/${dest}"
done