diff --git a/bench/utils/bench.py b/bench/utils/bench.py
index a3a0d140..98cfec2e 100644
--- a/bench/utils/bench.py
+++ b/bench/utils/bench.py
@@ -22,17 +22,18 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(bench.PROJECT_NAME)
 
 
 @lru_cache(maxsize=None)
-def get_env_cmd(cmd, bench_path="."):
+def get_env_cmd(cmd: str, bench_path: str = ".") -> str:
 	# this supports envs' generated by patched virtualenv or venv (which may cause an extra 'local' folder to be created)
 
 	existing_python_bins = glob(
-		os.path.abspath(os.path.join(bench_path, "env", "**", "bin", cmd)), recursive=True
+		os.path.join(bench_path, "env", "**", "bin", cmd), recursive=True
 	)
 
 	if existing_python_bins:
 		return existing_python_bins[0]
 
-	return os.path.abspath(os.path.join(bench_path, "env", "bin", cmd))
+	cmd = cmd.strip("*")
+	return os.path.join(bench_path, "env", "bin", cmd)
 
 
 def get_venv_path(verbose=False, python="python3"):