diff --git a/ruleset.xml b/ruleset.xml
index a11f18f..0591ed0 100644
--- a/ruleset.xml
+++ b/ruleset.xml
@@ -9,7 +9,14 @@
     <rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml" />
     <rule ref="rulesets/codesize.xml" />
     <rule ref="rulesets/cleancode.xml" />
-    <rule ref="rulesets/design.xml" />
+    <rule ref="rulesets/design.xml">
+        <exclude name="CouplingBetweenObjects" />
+    </rule>
+    <rule ref="rulesets/design.xml/CouplingBetweenObjects">
+        <properties>
+            <property name="maximum" value="16" />
+        </properties>
+    </rule>
     <rule ref="rulesets/controversial.xml">
         <exclude name="CamelCaseMethodName" />
     </rule>
diff --git a/src/Plugin.php b/src/Plugin.php
index cef68b5..0b202cb 100644
--- a/src/Plugin.php
+++ b/src/Plugin.php
@@ -21,12 +21,14 @@
 use Composer\Plugin\Capability\CommandProvider as ComposerCommandProvider;
 use Composer\Plugin\Capable;
 use Composer\Plugin\PluginInterface;
+use Composer\Script\Event;
 use Composer\Script\ScriptEvents;
 use Composer\Util\Filesystem as ComposerFileSystem;
 use ComposerLink\Actions\LinkPackages;
 use ComposerLink\Repository\Repository;
 use ComposerLink\Repository\RepositoryFactory;
 use RuntimeException;
+use Throwable;
 
 class Plugin implements PluginInterface, Capable, EventSubscriberInterface
 {
@@ -40,6 +42,15 @@ class Plugin implements PluginInterface, Capable, EventSubscriberInterface
 
     protected Composer $composer;
 
+    /**
+     * It can happen that activation doesn't work, this happens when this plugin is upgraded.
+     * Composer runs this file through an eval() with renamed class names, but all other classes
+     * in this library are still the old ones loaded in memory.
+     *
+     * We try to detect this, and skip the event callbacks if it happens
+     */
+    protected bool $couldNotActivate = false;
+
     public function __construct(
         ?ComposerFileSystem $filesystem = null,
         protected ?LinkPackages $linkPackages = null,
@@ -73,10 +84,15 @@ public function activate(Composer $composer, IOInterface $io): void
         $io->debug("[ComposerLink]\tPlugin is activating");
         $this->composer = $composer;
 
-        $this->initializeRepository();
-        $this->initializeLinkedPackageFactory();
-        $this->initializeLinkManager();
-        $this->initializeLinkPackages();
+        try {
+            $this->initializeRepository();
+            $this->initializeLinkedPackageFactory();
+            $this->initializeLinkManager();
+            $this->initializeLinkPackages();
+        } catch (Throwable $e) {
+            $io->debug("[ComposerLink]\tException: " . $e->getMessage());
+            $this->couldNotActivate = true;
+        }
     }
 
     protected function initializeRepository(): void
@@ -136,8 +152,15 @@ public function getLinkManager(): LinkManager
         return $this->linkManager;
     }
 
-    public function linkLinkedPackages(): void
+    public function linkLinkedPackages(Event $event): void
     {
+        // Plugin couldn't be activated probably because the plugin was updated
+        if ($this->couldNotActivate) {
+            $event->getIO()->warning('<warning>Composer link couldn\'t be activated because it was probably upgraded, run `composer install` again to link packages</warning>');
+
+            return;
+        }
+
         if (is_null($this->linkPackages)) {
             throw new RuntimeException('Plugin not activated');
         }
diff --git a/tests/Unit/PluginTest.php b/tests/Unit/PluginTest.php
index 6732056..ddb90bc 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/PluginTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/PluginTest.php
@@ -23,14 +23,17 @@
 use Composer\Plugin\Capability\CommandProvider as ComposerCommandProvider;
 use Composer\Repository\InstalledRepositoryInterface;
 use Composer\Repository\RepositoryManager;
+use Composer\Script\Event;
 use Composer\Script\ScriptEvents;
 use Composer\Util\Filesystem;
 use Composer\Util\Loop;
 use ComposerLink\Actions\LinkPackages;
 use ComposerLink\CommandProvider;
 use ComposerLink\Plugin;
+use ComposerLink\Repository\RepositoryFactory;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\MockObject\MockObject;
 use RuntimeException;
+use TypeError;
 
 /**
  *  @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.CouplingBetweenObjects)
@@ -103,6 +106,30 @@ public function test_if_plugin_can_be_utilized(): void
         $plugin->uninstall($this->composer, $this->io);
     }
 
+    public function test_unable_to_activate_plugin(): void
+    {
+        $repositoryFactory = $this->createMock(RepositoryFactory::class);
+        $linkPackages = $this->createMock(LinkPackages::class);
+        $event = $this->createMock(Event::class);
+        $event->method('getIO')->willReturn($this->io);
+
+        $repositoryFactory->method('create')
+            ->willThrowException(new TypeError('test error'));
+
+        $plugin = new Plugin(
+            $this->filesystem,
+            $linkPackages,
+            $repositoryFactory,
+        );
+
+        $plugin->activate($this->composer, $this->io);
+
+        $this->io->expects(static::once())->method('warning')->with(
+            static::stringContains('Composer link couldn\'t be activated')
+        );
+        $plugin->linkLinkedPackages($event);
+    }
+
     public function test_is_global(): void
     {
         $this->config->method('get')
@@ -143,13 +170,14 @@ public function test_plugin_throws_exception_repository(): void
 
     public function test_plugin_link_linked_packages(): void
     {
+        $event = $this->createMock(Event::class);
         $linkPackages = $this->createMock(LinkPackages::class);
         $linkPackages->expects(static::once())->method('execute');
         $plugin = new Plugin($this->createMock(Filesystem::class), $linkPackages);
-        $plugin->linkLinkedPackages();
+        $plugin->linkLinkedPackages($event);
 
         static::expectException(RuntimeException::class);
         $plugin = new Plugin($this->createMock(Filesystem::class));
-        $plugin->linkLinkedPackages();
+        $plugin->linkLinkedPackages($event);
     }
 }