I’ve noticed the same behavior, and I believe this is due to the FS Events API (that I assume Sublime Text is using on OS X to see when files change). From FS Events’ point of view, the symlink is just a normal file and does not change even when you change files in the directory pointed to by the symlink.
[quote]https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/FSEvents_ProgGuide/UsingtheFSEventsFramework/UsingtheFSEventsFramework.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40005289-CH4-SW1
Generally speaking, when working with file system event notifications, you will probably want to use lstat, because changes to the underlying file will not result in a change notification for the directory containing the symbolic link to that file.[/quote]
Ideally, it would be great if ST would let you move your packages, etc. to a different location, but in the meantime I am going to try the [risky] proposition of directory hard links.
EDIT: I tried hardlinks (using github.com/selkhateeb/hardlink) and ST still doesn’t pick up changes to files in my Dropbox. This works on my Windows box using a “Directory Junction” or whatever it’s called. )
EDIT 2: Ack! I just noticed this was fixed in a recent nightly build: MXS (Max Script) Suport
It works great now!