diff -rupN a/bin/elasticsearch b/bin/elasticsearch
--- a/bin/elasticsearch	2017-05-17 10:53:42.214686741 +0200
+++ b/bin/elasticsearch	2017-05-17 10:53:49.444487071 +0200
@@ -105,7 +105,11 @@ while [ -h "$SCRIPT" ] ; do
 done
 
 # determine elasticsearch home
-ES_HOME=`dirname "$SCRIPT"`/..
+
+if [ -z "$ES_HOME" ]; then
+    echo "You must set the ES_HOME var" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 # make ELASTICSEARCH_HOME absolute
 ES_HOME=`cd "$ES_HOME"; pwd`
diff -rupN a/bin/elasticsearch-plugin b/bin/elasticsearch-plugin
--- a/bin/elasticsearch-plugin	2017-05-17 10:53:42.214686741 +0200
+++ b/bin/elasticsearch-plugin	2017-05-17 10:53:49.445487044 +0200
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ while [ -h "$SCRIPT" ] ; do
 done
 
 # determine elasticsearch home
-ES_HOME=`dirname "$SCRIPT"`/..
+if [ -z "$ES_HOME" ]; then
+    echo "You must set the ES_HOME var" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 # make ELASTICSEARCH_HOME absolute
 ES_HOME=`cd "$ES_HOME"; pwd`