diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 073015d..d43ecfa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,9 +4,14 @@ crater's zsh config
 Installation:
 -------------
 
-From the checked out repo:
+Set the `ZDOTDIR` environment variable to the directory of this repo. Note that
+this environment variable must be set before the user configuration files of zsh
+are read.
+
+One way to do this is to set it in the global zsh configuration in
+`/etc/zsh/zshenv`, e.g. to use the XDG basedir spec with this repo at
+`~/.config/zsh`:
+
 ```
-ln -s $PWD/zshenv $HOME/.zshenv
+export ZDOTDIR="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}"/zsh
 ```
-The zshenv file sets the location to the rest of the config (`$ZDOTDIR`)
-automatically, based on the link target.
diff --git a/zshenv b/zshenv
index 95bbe34..d7b5b4b 100755
--- a/zshenv
+++ b/zshenv
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-export ZDOTDIR="${$(readlink $HOME/.zshenv):h:a}"
-
 exists() { command -v "$@" >/dev/null }
 function(){
 	local i