diff --git a/.stowrc b/.stowrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee23bfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.stowrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+--target=~
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index abf8137..6a5e53e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,8 +20,15 @@
 The dotfiles use `GNU stow` to link themselves in the home directory. You can clone this repository anywhere (though I have mine in `~/.dotfiles` as it seemed most logical for me).
 
 Once in the repository directory, when you then run `./install.sh` it will install many of the packages I use (though they are probably slightly out-of-date) and link the dotfiles into the home directory.
-Since it is based on `stow`, it will not overwrite anything already in the home directory.
-If you do not want to install any packages but only link the dotfiles run `./_bootstrap/autostow.sh -s`, once again from the main repository directory.
+Since it is based on `stow`, it will not overwrite anything already in the home directory (though you can force it to if you really want, using `stow --override='.*'` -- I do not recommend this).
+
+If you do not want to install any packages, but only link the dotfiles run `stow -S */` from the main repository directory.
+
+After all files are linked and you open a new shell session, the `dotlink` alias will allow you to re-link all dotfiles from anywhere on the system.[^1]
+
+[^1]: This alias only works when the dotfiles are cloned into `~/.dotfiles` mirroring my setup.
+    This is due to a hard-coded cd into this directory.
+    If your dotfiles lie in another directory and you want to use the dotlink alias, simply change the corresponding line in `_bootstrap/.config/sh/alias.d/dotlink.sh`]
 
 Both automatic installation paths are presumably somewhat brittle. In any case, I would suggest to manually look through the files for things you want instead of copying and activating everything.
 Dotfiles are too personal to be standardized like that.
diff --git a/_assets/.stow-local-ignore b/_assets/.stow-local-ignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96787ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_assets/.stow-local-ignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+^/.* # everything
diff --git a/_bootstrap/.config/sh/alias.d/dotlink.sh b/_bootstrap/.config/sh/alias.d/dotlink.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fc74c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_bootstrap/.config/sh/alias.d/dotlink.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# relink all stowed files from anywhere
+# grepping is to remove meaningless stderr lines until this bug is fixed:
+# https://github.com/aspiers/stow/issues/65
+#
+# redirection is a neat way to filter stderr msgs by redirecting stderr
+# to stdout in a subshell, grepping in it, and redirecting back to stderr:
+# https://stackoverflow.com/a/15936384
+#
+# to customize this to your own needs, change the `push folder` to the
+# location of your dotfiles (stow) repository
+alias dotlink="pushd ~/.dotfiles;\
+  stow -R */ 2> >(grep -v 'Absolute/relative mismatch between Stow dir' 1>&2) ;\
+  popd"
diff --git a/_bootstrap/.stow-local-ignore b/_bootstrap/.stow-local-ignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bf0cf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_bootstrap/.stow-local-ignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# TODO find a more generic way to express 'ignore any non-folder files'
+
+^/install_packages.sh
+^/packages.csv
diff --git a/_bootstrap/autostow.sh b/_bootstrap/autostow.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 25638b1..0000000
--- a/_bootstrap/autostow.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,129 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-#
-# autostow.sh
-#
-# Stow automatic symlinking script
-#
-# Invokes stow for every folder within this repository, and that's it.
-
-ignore="${AUTOSTOW_IGNORED_DIRS}"
-
-main() {
-  case "$1" in
-  -s | --stow)
-    have_stow
-    stow_dirs
-    exit 0
-    ;;
-  -d | --delete)
-    have_stow
-    unstow_dirs
-    exit 0
-    ;;
-  -n | --dry-run)
-    have_stow
-    dryrun
-    exit 0
-    ;;
-  -v | --version)
-    printf "System bootstrap script.\n\n©Marty Oehme\n\nVersion: 0.2.1\n"
-    ;;
-  -h | --help | *)
-    usage
-    exit 0
-    ;;
-  esac
-  shift
-}
-
-stow_dirs() {
-  printf "Creating dotfile symlinks .................................................\n"
-  for d in */; do
-
-    if is_ignored "$d"; then
-      printf "ignoring %s\n" "$d"
-      continue
-    fi
-
-    printf "stowing %s\n" "$d"
-    stow -S -t ~ "$d"
-  done
-  printf "Done creating symlinks ....................................................\n"
-}
-
-unstow_dirs() {
-  printf "Removing dotfile symlinks .................................................\n"
-  for d in */; do
-
-    if is_ignored "$d"; then
-      printf "ignoring %s\n" "$d"
-      continue
-    fi
-
-    printf "unstowing %s\n" "$d"
-    stow -D -t ~ "$d"
-  done
-  printf "Done removing symlinks ....................................................\n"
-}
-
-dryrun() {
-  printf "Printing processed directories ............................................\n"
-  for d in */; do
-
-    if is_ignored "$d"; then
-      printf "ignoring %s\n" "$d"
-      continue
-    fi
-
-    printf "processing %s\n" "$d"
-  done
-  printf "Done printing directories .................................................\n"
-}
-
-is_ignored() {
-  IFS=":"
-  for ign in $ignore; do
-    # it is either passed in through our environment variable
-    if [ "$ign" = "$1" ] || [ "$ign/" = "$1" ]; then
-      return 0
-    fi
-  done
-  # or it starts with a _ which is ignored by default (that's the regex).
-  # (using herestring to avoid cat>grep)
-  if grep -q -e '^_[[:alnum:]]\{1,\}' <<<"$1"; then return 0; fi
-  return 1
-}
-
-have_stow() {
-  if ! type stow >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    printf "GNU stow needs to be installed for this script to function. Please install stow through your package manager.\n"
-    exit 1
-  fi
-}
-
-usage() {
-  printf "%s\n" \
-    "" \
-    " autostow.sh - Automatically stow your dotfiles." \
-    "               Uses GNU stow to set up automatic links to any dotfiles in subdirectories of this directory." \
-    "" \
-    " Usage: stow.sh -dhsn" \
-    "" \
-    " Options:" \
-    "" \
-    "     -h | --help     Print out this help." \
-    "" \
-    "     -s | --stow     Install dotfiles, by symlinking any directory found next to stow.sh using GNU stow." \
-    "" \
-    "     -d | --delete   Remove dotfiles, by unlinking any directory found next to stow.sh using GNU stow." \
-    "" \
-    "     -n | --dry-run  Do not invoke any operation but print out directories affected, simulating a dry-run." \
-    "" \
-    " Note, by default any directory starting with an underscore _directoryname will be ignored." \
-    " Additional folders to ignore can be set through the environment variable AUTOSTOW_IGNORED_DIRS " \
-    " using a colon-separated string: AUTOSTOW_IGNORED_DIRS=\"directories:to:ignore\"   " \
-    "" \
-    ""
-}
-
-main "$@"
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index f8b3b0d..406c651 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #
 # Will first install yay, then all my used packages (read from bootstrap/packages.csv)
 #
-# Will symlink all my dotfiles into their correct places using autostow.sh
+# Finally, symlinks all dotfiles into their correct locations using stow
 
 bootstrap_dir="${BOOTSTRAP_DIRECTORY:-./_bootstrap}"
 
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ install() {
   unset BOOTSTRAP_PACKAGES
 
   echo "=================== BEGINNING DOTFILE MANAGEMENT =========================="
-  "$bootstrap_dir"/autostow.sh -s
+  stow -R ./*/
 
   echo "====================== INSTALLATION FINISHED =============================="