diff --git a/rpm/nsd-app-wrap.spec b/rpm/nsd-app-wrap.spec
index 0fdc29906f8a2c216ef33d84ab923ae93b22dfab..9ff64545edabba2fda9139842507efac99793387 100644
--- a/rpm/nsd-app-wrap.spec
+++ b/rpm/nsd-app-wrap.spec
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           nsd-app-wrap
-Version:        2.18
+Version:        2.19
 Release:        1%{?dist}
 Summary:        Wrapper scripts to launch python applications installed via anaconda
 Vendor:         Peter F. Peterson
diff --git a/src/nsd-app-wrap.sh b/src/nsd-app-wrap.sh
index f21218b62d02321dc3efd0426589f69b8d313a66..0fb6464fcd8021c155ef442b4f2934731b5ec437 100755
--- a/src/nsd-app-wrap.sh
+++ b/src/nsd-app-wrap.sh
@@ -19,9 +19,11 @@ _get_pixi_manifest_path() {
   # pixi environment
   PIXI_ENV="${1}"
 
-  if [ -d "${PIXI_ENV}" ]; then
+  if [[ (-d "${PIXI_ENV}") && ("${PIXI_ENV}" = "$(realpath "${PIXI_ENV}")"*) ]]; then
+      # it is a directory and is an absolute path
       echo "${PIXI_ENV}"
   else
+      # return the simple case input
       echo "${PIXI_PREFIX%/}/${PIXI_ENV}"
   fi
 }