[perl #134284] Trailing slash on -Dprefix causes -Dman{1,3}dir=noneto still install manpages

# New Ticket Created by  Dan Book 
# Please include the string:  [perl #134284]
# in the subject line of all future correspondence about this issue. 
# <URL: https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=134284 >


As documented in INSTALL[1], the conventional way to disable manpage
installation is the configuration -Dman1dir=none -Dman3dir=none; this
is also used by the --noman option in perl-build. It appears that if
-Dprefix is set to a path with a trailing slash, then the 'none' is
overridden by a path using $oldprefix[2], an internal Configure
variable that is apparently supposed to be set when $prefix was
changed[3]. -Dman{1,3}dir=' ' (a single space character) will work in
all cases, but as this was never documented, this overriding of 'none'
seems like a bug. If it isn't, the INSTALL documentation should
suggest setting a single space instead.

[1] https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/dc65f37092690cb834e2b1030cd905ed0a0066dd/INSTALL#L785

[2] https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/dc65f37092690cb834e2b1030cd905ed0a0066dd/Configure#L8887
and https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/dc65f37092690cb834e2b1030cd905ed0a0066dd/Configure#L7248

[3] https://github.com/perl5-metaconfig/metaconfig/blob/085a724377e683327fecae0021c85fba4dcb653d/U/installdirs/prefix.U#L38

(Archaeology graciously performed by Bram)


-Dan

• [perl #134284] Trailing slash on -Dprefix causes -Dman{1,3}dir=noneto still install manpages by Dan Book via RT
• [perl #134284] Trailing slash on -Dprefix causes -Dman{1,3}dir=noneto still install manpages by Dan Book