diff --git a/generate-bindings b/generate-bindings
index 568e232..d743082 100755
--- a/generate-bindings
+++ b/generate-bindings
@@ -1,5 +1,31 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# this is obviously kind of horrible...
+
+# when should we run this? during every `cabal build`, `cabal repl` etc. I guess
+# it's tricky because we really don't want it to be stale
+# we should also bear in mind `nix build` and Rust `debug`/`release`
+# eugh, I really wish Hooks just worked
+# remember also that we still need run `cargo build --manifest-path ./rust/Cargo.toml` before build, to avoid stale .so
+# that's only important at link time so I think it can be a `postBuildComponentHook` - then e.g. HLS won't try to run it
+# for now maybe we should do that in a single script alongside the symlinking
+# with comments explaining how we expect each workaround to go away eventually
+
+# oh, you know what, we could just symlink...
+
+# can we use `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` instead?
+# LD_LIBRARY_PATH=rust/target/debug/libgarnet_rs.a cabal run
+# LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(pwd)/rust/target/debug cabal run
+# seemingly not
+# cabal run --extra-lib-dirs $(pwd)/rust/target/debug
+
+# it would be nice if Cabal had a declarative way of specifying input file, so we don't need custom setup or anything
+
 # place static lib in position for bundling with Cabal
-cp rust/target/debug/libgarnet_rs.a $(cabal list-bin . | sed -e 's=x/garnet/build/garnet/garnet=build=g')
+# symlink does work!
+# put it in Rust build script?
+# or maybe in shell hook? well, that's probably not often enough, since it won't survive a `cabal clean`
+ln -s $(pwd)/rust/target/debug/libgarnet_rs.a $(cabal list-bin . | sed -e 's=x/garnet/build/garnet/garnet=build=g')
+
+# cabal run