On a fresh 7.2.90 system : # makewhatis /usr/sbin/makewhatis: cd: /usr/man: No such file or directory the whatis database is not built
Not reproducable in 7.2.91.
The same on beta2 for me. Maybe something created /usr/man on your system and that "covers" the bug ? I did a minimum fresh install.
No, I don't have a /usr/man and I can't find anything in the code needing it. It's listed as a secondary man path (and that should stay for legacy applications), but there's nothing in the code that would insist on it. This is in beta3, of course, maybe something was changed in between.
Oh, found the problem. It's triggered only if no existing whatis database exists. Fixed in -6.
Bug still in beta3, as it has only man-1.5j-5