install.sh wrapper relative link not resolved correctly

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@V-Subhankar-infy is already working on this.

Since Jun 11, 2026.

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Description

I'm trying to create a generic install method for a dotfile/software install library I maintain. I want to install a link to the binary in ~/.local/bin/ and keep the devcontainers install under ~/.local/lib/devcontainers/. The install takes care of this via the --prefix ~/.local argument.

The problem is that when I create a relative link called devcontainer from ~/.local/bin to ~/.local/lib/devcontainers/bin/devcontainer and then invoke the devcontainer executable, the generated bin file resolves the link as a relative link, rather than absolute.

Example install method:

INSTALL_DIR=$HOME/.local
curl -sSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devcontainers/cli/main/scripts/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh --prefix "${INSTALL_DIR}"/lib/devcontainers
cd "${INSTALL_DIR}"/bin
ln -s ../lib/devcontainers/bin/devcontainer devcontainer

Example running devcontainer which is already in the PATH of ~/.local/bin/

$devcontainer
/home/vasdee/.local/bin/devcontainer: line 18: cd: ../lib/devcontainers/bin: No such file or directory

In ~/.local/bin/devcontainer i believe if the follow link logic preferred the full path option of readlink, over the relative (which is the opposite of how it is now) then the issue would be solved....at least for me

# Resolve the installation directory
# Handle both direct execution and symlinked scenarios
if [ -L "$0" ]; then
    # Follow symlink current logic 
    SCRIPT_PATH="$(readlink "$0" 2>/dev/null || readlink -f "$0" 2>/dev/null || echo "$0")"
    # Follow symlink potential fix by preferring the abs path over relative
    # SCRIPT_PATH="$(readlink -f "$0" 2>/dev/null || readlink "$0" 2>/dev/null || echo "$0")"
else
    SCRIPT_PATH="$0"
fi

I am happy to contribute a PR, but am not sure of the history behind this choice and what impact the change might have. I'm looking for guidance in that respect.

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