$libdir isn't used by the Makefile at all apart from in this mkdir. This will be used without any DESTDIR so if your libdir is a different layout to the bulid system it will cause a failure. E.g: Build system has /usr/lib only libdir = /usr/lib64 for the target Results in "mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/lib64': Permission denied" Since the directory is never used, we can just remove the mkdir. Upstream-Status: Submitted (via email) RP 23/9/2011 Index: diffstat-1.54/makefile.in =================================================================== --- diffstat-1.54.orig/makefile.in 2011-09-22 19:13:11.330158571 +0100 +++ diffstat-1.54/makefile.in 2011-09-22 19:13:35.610158363 +0100 @@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ $(INSTALL_DATA) $(srcdir)/$(THIS).1 $(man1dir)/$(THIS).$(manext) installdirs : - mkdir -p $(BINDIR) $(libdir) $(man1dir) + mkdir -p $(BINDIR) $(man1dir) uninstall : rm -f $(BINDIR)/$(PROG) $(man1dir)/$(THIS).$(manext)