diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index 1e638af..74f731c 100644
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -49,9 +49,12 @@ if gdbus introspect --session \\
   --dest io.github.retrozinndev.colorshell \\
   --object-path /io/github/retrozinndev/colorshell > /dev/null 2>&1; then
 
-    echo \"\$@\" | socat - \"\${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/run/user/\$(id -u)}/colorshell.sock\"
-    exit 0
-
+    if command -v socat; then
+        echo \"\$@\" | socat - \"\${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/run/user/\$(id -u)}/colorshell.sock\"
+        exit 0
+    else
+        echo \"[warn] \`socat\` not installed, falling back to remote instance communication\"
+    fi
 fi
 `cat "${outdir:-./build/release}/colorshell" | sed -e 's/^#.*//'`" # remove shebang
 
@@ -61,5 +64,5 @@ fi
 
 echo "[info] making desktop entry"
 entry=`cat ./resources/colorshell.desktop`
-entry=${entry/\$COLORSHELL_BINARY/${bin_target:-\$HOME/.local/bin/colorshell}}
-echo -n "$entry" > ${outdir:-./build/release}/colorshell.desktop
+bin_target=${bin_target:-'$HOME/.local/bin/colorshell'}
+echo -n "${entry/'$COLORSHELL_BINARY'/${bin_target/'$'/'\\\$'}}" > ${outdir:-./build/release}/colorshell.desktop
diff --git a/scripts/sync-config.sh b/scripts/sync-config.sh
index cbb7983..a4e460a 100644
--- a/scripts/sync-config.sh
+++ b/scripts/sync-config.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-#!/usr/bin/bash
-
 source ./scripts/utils.sh
 
 config_dirs=(
diff --git a/scripts/utils.sh b/scripts/utils.sh
index ea882c8..9373765 100644
--- a/scripts/utils.sh
+++ b/scripts/utils.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
 # This script contains useful functions to be used 
 # in other scripts from colorshell.
 # ----------
@@ -56,13 +54,17 @@ function Print_header() {
 # Input answer is exported as $answer
 # -------------
 function Ask() {
-    read -n 1 -p "$1 [y/n] " r
+    read -n 1 -p "$@ [y/n] " answer
     printf '\n'
-    export answer=$r
+    if [[ ! $answer =~ [yn] ]]; then
+        Ask "$@" # restart if different from accepted chars
+    fi
+
+    export answer
 }
 
 # -------------
-# Ask a yes/no question to user
+# Ask the user to choose a number from the provided list
 # Input answer is exported as $answer
 # (this function is not done yet)
 # -------------