diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7762b34..457987f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -6,14 +6,11 @@ build:
 	test -f ./${COMPILER}/wasmception/dist/bin/clang || make -C ${COMPILER}/wasmception
 	@cd ${COMPILER} && cargo build --release && cd ${ROOT}
 
+# Sanity check that the aWsm compiler built and is in our PATH
 .PHONY: build-validate
 build-validate:
 	which awsm
 	awsm --version
-	cd ${COMPILER} 
-	which awsm
-	awsm --version
-	cd ${ROOT}
 
 .PHONY: build-dev
 build-dev:
@@ -44,6 +41,6 @@ runtime:
 	make -C runtime
 
 .PHONY: install
-install: build build-validate rtinit
+install: build rtinit
 	@./install.sh wasmception
 
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index d09cd2d..60df1d6 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -1,17 +1,49 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# Executing by the root Makefile, typically within the sledge-dev build container
+#!/bin/bash
+# This script is responsible for copying, linking, and aliasing all of our build tools such that they are
+# in known paths that we can add to PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH. The binaries go into "${SYS_PREFIX}/bin" and
+# the libraries go into "${SYS_PREFIX}/lib". By default, SYS_PREFIX is `/opt/sledge/`, which means that this
+# script is assumed to be executed as root, as in our Docker build container. However, by by setting
+# SYS_PREFIX to a directory that the user has access to, this can be avoided.
+#
+# For example, in the GitHub Actions workflow, SYS_PREFIX is set to the topmost project directory and the
+# environment is updated as follows.
+#
+# SYS_PREFIX="$(pwd)" ./install.sh
+# PATH="$(pwd)/bin:$PATH"
+# LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$(pwd)/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
+#
+# This is currently executed
+# - Indirectly via `make install` in the root Makefile, typically when the sledge-dev build container is built
+# - Directly by the GitHub workflow
+#
+# The script takes either wasmception or wasi as the first argument to install either wasmception or WASI-SDK
+# If no argument is provided, wasmception is assumed
+# If either wasmception or wasi is provided, an additional `-d` or `--dry-run` flag can be provided to view the commands
+# and paths that would be generated. This is helpful for sanity checking when setting SYS_PREFIX and using in a new context
 
 echo "Setting up toolchain environment"
 
-# Get the path of this repo
-# SYS_SRC_PREFIX could be externally set
-# This is written assuming that install.sh might be in the project top level directory or a subdirectory,
-# but that it is always called with a relative path from the project root
+for last_arg in "$@"; do :; done
+
+if [[ $last_arg == "-d" ]] || [[ $last_arg == "--dry-run" ]]; then
+  DRY_RUN=true
+else
+  DRY_RUN=false
+fi
+
+if $DRY_RUN; then
+  DRY_RUN_PREFIX=echo
+else
+  DRY_RUN_PREFIX=
+fi
+
+# Get the absolute path of the topmost project directly
+# The use of dirname is particular. It seems unneccesary how this script is run
 SYS_SRC_PREFIX=${SYS_SRC_PREFIX:-"$(
   cd "$(dirname "$(dirname "${0}")")" || exit 1
   pwd -P
 )"}
-echo SYS_SRC_PREFIX: "$SYS_SRC_PREFIX"
+$DRY_RUN && echo SYS_SRC_PREFIX: "$SYS_SRC_PREFIX"
 
 # And check for the presence of this script to make sure we got it right
 if [ ! -x "${SYS_SRC_PREFIX}/install.sh" ]; then
@@ -25,23 +57,23 @@ COMPILER_EXECUTABLE=$COMPILER
 
 # /opt/sledge
 SYS_PREFIX=${SYS_PREFIX:-"/opt/${SYS_NAME}"}
-echo SYS_PREFIX: "$SYS_PREFIX"
+$DRY_RUN && echo SYS_PREFIX: "$SYS_PREFIX"
 
 # /sledge, where the sledge repo is mounted from the host
 SYS_SRC_PREFIX=${SYS_SRC_PREFIX:-"/${SYS_NAME}"}
-echo SYS_SRC_PREFIX: "$SYS_SRC_PREFIX"
+$DRY_RUN && echo SYS_SRC_PREFIX: "$SYS_SRC_PREFIX"
 
 # The release directory containing the binary of the aWsm compiler
 SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR=${SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR:-"${SYS_SRC_PREFIX}/${COMPILER}/target/release"}
-echo SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR: "$SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR"
+$DRY_RUN && echo SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR: "$SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR"
 
 # /opt/sledge/bin
 SYS_BIN_DIR=${SYS_BIN_DIR:-"${SYS_PREFIX}/bin"}
-echo SYS_BIN_DIR: "$SYS_BIN_DIR"
+$DRY_RUN && echo SYS_BIN_DIR: "$SYS_BIN_DIR"
 
 # /opt/sledge/lib
 SYS_LIB_DIR=${SYS_LIB_DIR:-"${SYS_PREFIX}/lib"}
-echo SYS_LIB_DIR: "$SYS_LIB_DIR"
+$DRY_RUN && echo SYS_LIB_DIR: "$SYS_LIB_DIR"
 
 # The first argument can be either wasi or wasmception. This determines the system interface used
 # The default is wasmception
@@ -53,7 +85,7 @@ if [ $# -eq 0 ] || [ "$1" = "wasmception" ]; then
   WASM_SYSROOT=${WASM_SYSROOT:-"${WASM_PREFIX}/sysroot"}
   WASM_TARGET=${WASM_TARGET:-"wasm32-unknown-unknown-wasm"}
   WASM_BIN_PREFIX=${WASM_BIN_PREFIX:-"$WASM_TARGET"}
-  WASM_TOOLS=ar
+  WASM_TOOLS=(ar)
 elif [ "$1" = "wasi" ]; then
   echo "Setting up for wasi-sdk"
   WASM_PREFIX=${WASM_PREFIX:-${WASM_SDK:-"/opt/wasi-sdk"}}
@@ -61,27 +93,24 @@ elif [ "$1" = "wasi" ]; then
   WASM_SYSROOT=${WASM_SYSROOT:-"${WASM_PREFIX}/share/sysroot"}
   WASM_TARGET=${WASM_TARGET:-"wasm32-wasi"}
   WASM_BIN_PREFIX=${WASM_BIN_PREFIX:-"$WASM_TARGET"}
-  WASM_TOOLS=ar dwarfdump nm ranlib size
+  WASM_TOOLS=(ar dwarfdump nm ranlib size)
 fi
-echo WASM_PREFIX: "$WASM_PREFIX"
-echo WASM_BIN: "$WASM_BIN"
-echo WASM_SYSROOT: "$WASM_SYSROOT"
-echo WASM_TARGET: "$WASM_TARGET"
-echo WASM_BIN_PREFIX: "$WASM_BIN_PREFIX"
-echo WASM_TOOLS: "$WASM_TOOLS"
+$DRY_RUN && echo WASM_PREFIX: "$WASM_PREFIX"
+$DRY_RUN && echo WASM_BIN: "$WASM_BIN"
+$DRY_RUN && echo WASM_SYSROOT: "$WASM_SYSROOT"
+$DRY_RUN && echo WASM_TARGET: "$WASM_TARGET"
+$DRY_RUN && echo WASM_BIN_PREFIX: "$WASM_BIN_PREFIX"
+$DRY_RUN && echo WASM_TOOLS: "${WASM_TOOLS[@]}"
 
 # Delete all existing installations of the binaries
-echo rm -f "${SYS_BIN_DIR}"/*
-rm -f "${SYS_BIN_DIR}"/*
+$DRY_RUN_PREFIX rm -f "${SYS_BIN_DIR}"/*
 
 # And reinstall
-echo install -d -v "$SYS_BIN_DIR" || exit 1
-install -d -v "$SYS_BIN_DIR" || exit 1
+$DRY_RUN_PREFIX install -d -v "$SYS_BIN_DIR" || exit 1
 
 # Symbolically link the Awsm compiler
 # /sledge/awsm/target/release/silverfish /opt/sledge/bin/awsm
-echo ln -sfv "${SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR}/${COMPILER_EXECUTABLE}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${COMPILER_EXECUTABLE}"
-ln -sfv "${SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR}/${COMPILER_EXECUTABLE}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${COMPILER_EXECUTABLE}"
+$DRY_RUN_PREFIX ln -sfv "${SYS_COMPILER_REL_DIR}/${COMPILER_EXECUTABLE}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${COMPILER_EXECUTABLE}"
 
 # Generate shell script stubs that act as aliases that automatically set the approproiate target and sysroot
 # for either Wasmception or WASI-SDK
@@ -95,29 +124,24 @@ for file in clang clang++; do
 exec "${WASM_BIN}/${file}" --target="$WASM_TARGET" --sysroot="$WASM_SYSROOT" "\$@"
 EOT
   cat "$wrapper_file"
-  echo install -p -v "$wrapper_file" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
-  install -p -v "$wrapper_file" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
-  echo rm -f "$wrapper_file"
+  $DRY_RUN_PREFIX install -p -v "$wrapper_file" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
+  $DRY_RUN && echo rm -f "$wrapper_file"
   rm -f "$wrapper_file"
 done
-exit
 
 # Link the LLVM Tools with the proper prefix
-for file in ${WASM_TOOLS}; do
-  echo ln -sfv "${WASM_BIN}/llvm-${file}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
-  ln -sfv "${WASM_BIN}/llvm-${file}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
+for file in "${WASM_TOOLS[@]}"; do
+  $DRY_RUN_PREFIX ln -sfv "${WASM_BIN}/llvm-${file}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
 done
 
 # Link any other tools with the proper prefix
-for file in ld; do
-  echo ln -sfv "${WASM_BIN}/wasm-${file}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
-  ln -sfv "${WASM_BIN}/wasm-${file}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
+OTHER_TOOLS=(ld)
+for file in "${OTHER_TOOLS[@]}"; do
+  $DRY_RUN_PREFIX ln -sfv "${WASM_BIN}/wasm-${file}" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-${file}"
 done
 
 # Link clang as gcc if needed
-echo ln -svf "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-clang" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-gcc"
-ln -svf "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-clang" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-gcc"
-echo ln -svf "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-clang++" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-g++"
-ln -svf "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-clang++" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-g++"
+$DRY_RUN_PREFIX ln -svf "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-clang" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-gcc"
+$DRY_RUN_PREFIX ln -svf "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-clang++" "${SYS_BIN_DIR}/${WASM_BIN_PREFIX}-g++"
 
 echo "Done!"