Issue with relative paths in data.yaml file when trying to train yolo custom model

I am trying to create a training pipeline to train a custom yolov9 model with user inputted labeled images.

I am having an issue where if I make my data.yaml file use relative paths, I get the error:

RuntimeError: Dataset 'OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/data.yaml' error
  Dataset 'OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/data.yaml' images not found , missing path 'C:\GitHub\Anomaly_detection_combine\OIT_model\Anomaly_detection_combine\OIT_model\customOIT\customdatasetyolo\Anomaly_detection_combine\OIT_model\customOIT\customdatasetyolo\val'

What is even more odd, is that the path the error mentions,

'C:\\GitHub\\Anomaly_detection_combine\\OIT_model\\Anomaly_detection_combine\\OIT_model\\customOIT\\customdatasetyolo\\Anomaly_detection_combine\\OIT_model\\customOIT\\customdatasetyolo\\val'
is not a path that exists or is being requested anywhere. The actual path is

'C:\\GitHub\\Anomaly_detection_combine\\OIT_model\\customOIT\\customdatasetyolo\\val'
for some reason it is repeating the first part of the path 3 times.

This is the data.yaml file:

    path: OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo
    train: OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/train
    val: OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/val
    nc: 1
    names: ['5']

and this is the code that is starting training:

    def train_custom_dataset_yolo(data_path, epochs=100, imgsz=64, verbose=True):
        model = YOLO("OIT_model/yolov9c.pt")
        # Specify the save directory for training runs
        save_dir = 'OIT_model/customOIT/yolocustomtrainoutput'
        if os.path.exists(save_dir):
            for file in os.listdir(save_dir):
                file_path = os.path.join(save_dir, file)
                if os.path.isfile(file_path) or os.path.islink(file_path):
                    os.unlink(file_path)
                elif os.path.isdir(file_path):
                    shutil.rmtree(file_path)
        os.makedirs(save_dir, exist_ok=True)
        model.train(data=data_path, epochs=epochs, imgsz=imgsz, verbose=verbose, save_dir=save_dir)
        return
    train_custom_dataset_yolo('OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/data.yaml', epochs=1,imgsz=64, verbose=True)

Very strangely however, when I replace the relative paths with absolute paths, like so:

    path: C:/GitHub/fix/Anomaly_detection_combine/OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo
    train: C:/GitHub/fix/Anomaly_detection_combine/OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/train
    val: C:/GitHub/fix/Anomaly_detection_combine/OIT_model/customOIT/customdatasetyolo/val
    nc: 1
    names: ['5']

training works without issue. Using absolute pathing is not an option for me, as this application needs to be reproductible on others machines.

Start with the data.yaml paths and the train_custom_dataset_yolo entry point, then reproduce training with the shown relative paths and compare the resolved path with the absolute-path case. Trace why the dataset path is repeated and verify that training can find the train and val directories using relative paths on another machine.