Description of problem: The groff-base package contains only necessary parts of groff formatting system which are required to display manual pages, and the groff's default display device (PostScript). But, less requires groff itself. Since man-db requires less, the net result is that I tested this with a minimal install, and removing the "groff" package (as long as "groff-base" is installed, of course) has no impact on either man or less's ability to display man pages. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): less-444-5.fc17.src.rpm
(Uh, "the net result is that installing man pulls in both groff and groff-base.")
You're right, groff has about 4MB in size so the difference will be noticeable.
less-444-6.fc17 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 17. https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/less-444-6.fc17
less-444-9.fc18 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 18. https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/less-444-9.fc18
Package less-444-9.fc18: * should fix your issue, * was pushed to the Fedora 18 testing repository, * should be available at your local mirror within two days. Update it with: # su -c 'yum update --enablerepo=updates-testing less-444-9.fc18' as soon as you are able to. Please go to the following url: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2012-16892/less-444-9.fc18 then log in and leave karma (feedback).
less-444-6.fc17 has been pushed to the Fedora 17 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.