PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin:/bin ./configure -default: The paths to some programs get written into man's files. Unfortunately, the configure script picks the last location in PATH rather than the first where a program is found. By appending /usr/bin:/bin to PATH for the ./configure command, we make sure that man doesn't use the /static versions of our programs. sed -e '/^NROFF/s/-mandoc/-c -mandoc/': This prevents groff from using SGR (Set Graphics Rendition) escape sequences on our man pages.