fix: relative symlink resolution in install script

[Venkumahanti Subhankar (V-Subhankar-infy)]

Summary

Fixes relative symlink resolution in the install script for split local layouts (e.g. a launcher in ~/.local/bin pointing to a payload in ~/.local/lib/devcontainers). The wrapper now resolves its own location with portable POSIX shell built-ins instead of GNU-specific readlink -f, so devcontainer works regardless of the caller's working directory and shell environment (Linux, macOS, BSD).

Fixes #1232

Root Cause

A single readlink call plus cd "$(dirname ...)" && pwd resolved relative symlink targets against the caller's CWD rather than the link's own directory, and the readlink -f fallback isn't portable to macOS/BSD.

Reproduction of error

./install.sh --prefix "$HOME/.local/lib/devcontainers"
ln -s ../lib/devcontainers/bin/devcontainer "$HOME/.local/bin/devcontainer"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
cd "$HOME" && devcontainer --version   # cd: ../lib/devcontainers/bin: No such file or directory

Fix

The script-location resolver now walks the symlink chain one hop at a time, cd-ing into each link's directory before reading the next target, then canonicalizes the final directory. This replaces the previous single readlink resolution.

Why It Works

• Correct relative resolution: enters each link's directory before reading the next target, so relative symlinks resolve against the link, not the CWD.
• CWD-independent: finalized with cd -P … && pwd for an absolute, canonical path.
• Portable: POSIX-only (readlink, ${var%/*}, cd -P, pwd) — no readlink -f/realpath.
• Safe: runs in a subshell with CDPATH= cleared; no leaked cd or stray output.

Validation

Regression test confirms a relative symlink launched from another directory exits 0 and reports the installed CLI version.

Scope & Risk

One resolution block; no install/download changes. Direct execution and absolute symlinks are unchanged. Low risk, plus improved cross-platform portability.

Credits

Thanks to @klmr for the portable POSIX symlink-resolution approach.

[Konrad Rudolph (klmr)]

Beware that readlink -f support has only been added to macOS fairly recently. A portable alternative is much more convoluted, alas:

--- a/devcontainer      2026-06-19 15:12:58
+++ b/devcontainer      2026-06-19 15:13:11
@@ -6,15 +6,22 @@

 # Resolve the installation directory
 # Handle both direct execution and symlinked scenarios
-if [ -L "$0" ]; then
-    # Follow symlink
-    SCRIPT_PATH="$(readlink "$0" 2>/dev/null || readlink -f "$0" 2>/dev/null || echo "$0")"
-else
-    SCRIPT_PATH="$0"
-fi
-
-# Get absolute path to script directory
-SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$SCRIPT_PATH")" && pwd)"
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(
+    CDPATH=
+    self=$0
+
+    while [ -L "$self" ]; do
+        cd -- "${self%/*}" >/dev/null || :
+        self=$(readlink "${self##*/}")
+    done
+
+    case "$self" in
+        (*/*) ;;
+        (*) self=./$self ;;
+    esac
+
+    cd -P -- "${self%/*}" >/dev/null && pwd
+)"
 INSTALL_DIR="$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")"

 # Paths to bundled components

(Reference/explanation: https://stackoverflow.com/a/246128/1968)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates the generated devcontainer wrapper’s self-location logic so that relative symlink targets are resolved relative to the symlink’s directory (not the caller’s CWD), and adds a regression test covering the reported split-local-layout scenario.

Changes:

• Replace the wrapper’s single-hop readlink/readlink -f resolution with a hop-by-hop symlink-chain resolver.
• Canonicalize the resolved script directory before deriving INSTALL_DIR.
• Add an integration regression test for invoking a relative symlinked wrapper from a different working directory.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
scripts/install.sh	Reworks wrapper script-location resolution to correctly handle relative symlink chains without readlink -f.
scripts/install.test.sh	Adds a regression test for relative symlink invocation from a different directory.

Review details

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Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

scripts/install.sh:444

• cd -P -- and dirname -- are not portable; -- is not specified by POSIX for cd or dirname and can be interpreted as a literal path/operand on some systems. Since SCRIPT_DIR is already an absolute path, dropping -- is safe and avoids breaking the wrapper on macOS/BSD and dash-based /bin/sh.

    cd -P -- "${self%/*}" >/dev/null && pwd
)"
INSTALL_DIR="$(dirname -- "$SCRIPT_DIR")"

• Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
• Comments generated: 2
• Review effort level: Low

[Copilot]

Review details

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

scripts/install.sh:443

• cd in POSIX sh does not specify support for a -- end-of-options marker. Using cd -P -- ... can be interpreted as trying to cd into a directory literally named -- on some shells, which would make SCRIPT_DIR resolution fail (and the wrapper exit due to set -e).

    cd -P -- "${self%/*}" >/dev/null && pwd

scripts/install.sh:445

• dirname is specified without options in POSIX, so dirname -- "$SCRIPT_DIR" is not portable: on systems where dirname treats -- as a path operand (common on BSD/macOS), this can emit an extra line and corrupt INSTALL_DIR. Since SCRIPT_DIR comes from pwd, it won't start with - anyway, so -- is unnecessary.

INSTALL_DIR="$(dirname -- "$SCRIPT_DIR")"

• Files reviewed: 2/2 changed files
• Comments generated: 0 new
• Review effort level: Low