diff --git a/browser/components/loop/README.txt b/browser/components/loop/README.txt
index af205db04c9..2ac0262d621 100644
--- a/browser/components/loop/README.txt
+++ b/browser/components/loop/README.txt
@@ -1,31 +1,12 @@
-In order for the loop component to build, do the following:
+In order for the loop component to build, run the make-links.sh script to
+setup symlinks from the Gecko tree into your loop-client-repo for shared code,
+noting that you'll need to put the correct path inside the [[ ]] placeholder
+(and remove the [[ ]] characters).
-* if you have an existing content/shared directory, move it out of the way:
+$ export LOOP_CLIENT_REPO=[[/absolute-path/to/my/loop-client-repo/clone]]
+$ ./make-links.sh
-mv content/shared content/shared.old
-
-* create a symlink to the authoritative version of the shared directory in your
-loop-client repo. If you first set the env vars referenced below,
-you should be able to copy-paste these lines:
-
-ln -s ${LOOP_CLIENT_REPO_DIR}/static/shared \
- ${GECKO_SRC_DIR}/browser/components/loop/content/shared
-
-Once you're done, the browser/components/loop/content should look something
-like this:
-
-$ ls -l !$
-ls -l browser/components/loop/content
-total 32
--rw-r--r-- 1 dmose staff 900 Mar 27 16:17 conversation.html
-drwxr-xr-x 6 dmose staff 204 Mar 27 16:17 js
-drwxr-xr-x 3 dmose staff 102 Mar 26 15:36 libs
--rw-r--r-- 1 dmose staff 2159 Mar 26 15:36 panel.html
-lrwxr-xr-x 1 dmose staff 40 Mar 26 15:41 shared -> /Users/dmose/r/loop-client/static/shared
-
-
-Note that changes to the shared directory affect both the standalone loop-client
-and the desktop client. This means that sometimes, in order to
+Note that changes to the shared directories affect both the standalone
+loop-client and the desktop client. This means that sometimes, in order to
make a desktop client patch, you'll need to get reviews on patches to both
-mozilla-central/gecko-dev as well as loop-client.
-
+mozilla-central/gecko-dev as well as loop-client.
diff --git a/browser/components/loop/make-links.sh b/browser/components/loop/make-links.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..6127b66bf8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/browser/components/loop/make-links.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ `basename $PWD` != "loop" ]; then
+ echo "this script must be executed in the loop directory"
+ exit -1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "$LOOP_CLIENT_REPO" ]; then
+ echo "LOOP_CLIENT_REPO in the environment must be set to a valid directory"
+ exit -1
+fi
+
+SHARED_CONTENT_TARGET=./content/shared
+rm -f ${SHARED_CONTENT_TARGET}
+
+SHARED_CONTENT=${LOOP_CLIENT_REPO}/content/shared
+ln -s ${SHARED_CONTENT} ${SHARED_CONTENT_TARGET}
+
+SHARED_TEST_TARGET=./test/shared
+rm -f ${SHARED_TEST_TARGET}
+
+SHARED_TEST=${LOOP_CLIENT_REPO}/test/shared
+ln -s ${SHARED_TEST} ${SHARED_TEST_TARGET}
+
+
diff --git a/browser/components/loop/test/.gitignore b/browser/components/loop/test/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8a205e8dc3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/browser/components/loop/test/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+shared
diff --git a/browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/README.md b/browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/README.md
rename to browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/README.md
diff --git a/browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/client_test.js b/browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/client_test.js
similarity index 100%
rename from browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/client_test.js
rename to browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/client_test.js
diff --git a/browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/index.html b/browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/index.html
similarity index 73%
rename from browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/index.html
rename to browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/index.html
index f7c280249b8..3db49a20a2b 100644
--- a/browser/components/loop/test/mocha-test/index.html
+++ b/browser/components/loop/test/desktop-local/index.html
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
Loop mocha tests
-
+