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. patch -Np1 -i ../man-&man-patch-version;.patch: This patch comments out one of the files in the man.conf file (MANPATH /usr/man) because it will create redundant results when using programs like whatis. It also adds the -R option to the PAGER variable so man pages are displayed properly. Lastly, the patch fixes the problem where man pages are not formatted with more than 80 columns when used with the recent groff versions.