root:/sources# tar zxf man-1.6e.tar.gz
root:/sources# cd man-1.6e
root:/sources/man-1.6e# sed -i 's@-is@&R@g' configure
root:/sources/man-1.6e# 
root:/sources/man-1.6e# sed -i 's@MANPATH./usr/man@#&@g' src/man.conf.in
root:/sources/man-1.6e# 
root:/sources/man-1.6e# sed -i 's@MANPATH./usr/local/man@#&@g' src/man.conf.in
root:/sources/man-1.6e# 
root:/sources/man-1.6e# ./configure -confdir=/etc
checking for gcc
gcc is /usr/bin/gcc
checking for ANSI C header files
checking for sys/termios.h
checking for POSIX.1 header files
checking for BSD string and memory functions
checking whether sys/types.h defines uid_t
checking for Xenix
checking how to get alloca
checking for nls
checking for getopt.h
Checking echo to see how to suppress newlines...
...using -n.

Assuming you want to be able to handle the nroff source for man pages.

Assuming the following ways to invoke the various commands and filters:
troff command:	/usr/bin/groff -Tps -mandoc
nroff command:	/usr/bin/nroff -Tlatin1 -mandoc
jnroff command:	/usr/bin/groff -Tnippon -mandocj
eqn command:	/usr/bin/geqn -Tps
neqn command:	/usr/bin/geqn -Tlatin1
jneqn command:	/usr/bin/geqn -Tnippon
tbl command:	/usr/bin/gtbl
col command:	missing
vgrind command:	missing
refer command:	/usr/bin/refer
grap command:	missing
pic command:	/usr/bin/pic
pager command:	/bin/less -isR
browser command:	/bin/less -isR
htmlpager command:	/bin/cat
cmp command:	/usr/bin/cmp -s
cat command:	/bin/cat
awk command:	/usr/bin/awk

It seems that no col is needed, since you use groff.

Using /usr/man/cat* (if that exists) for cat pages.

Assuming that binaries go to /usr/bin, the configuration file
goes to /etc, makewhatis to /usr/sbin, and the man pages
to /usr/man/man*.

Assuming that you do not want to install non-english man pages.
Assuming that you do not want man to be suid or sgid.
(But you can always do _chown man man; chmod 04555 man_ later.)

Setting the default section search order to 1 1p 8 2 3 3p 4 5 6 7 9 0p tcl n l p o.

Assuming that formatted pages should be compressed.
Using /bin/bzip2 for compression.

Assuming the following ways to invoke the various decompressors:
gunzip command:   	/bin/gunzip -c
bzip2 command:   	/bin/bzip2 -c -d
pcat command:   	missing
zcat command:   	/bin/zcat
fcat command:   	missing
unyabba command:   	missing

Created Makefile and conf_script. Now do "make" and "make install".

root:/sources/man-1.6e# 
root:/sources/man-1.6e# make
cd src; ../conf_script Makefile
Creating Makefile from Makefile.in
cd src; make
make[1]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/src'
gcc -O -o makemsg makemsg.c
./makemsg ../msgs/mess.en gripedefs.h msg.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS man.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS manfile.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS manpath.c
../conf_script paths.h
Creating paths.h from paths.h.in
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS man-config.c
vers=`sed -e s/man-// ../version`; \
	echo "static char version[] = \"$vers\";" > version.h
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS man-getopt.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS man-iconv.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS to_cat.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS different.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS gripes.c
gcc -O -c -Wall  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS glob.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS util.c
gcc -O -c -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes  -I. -DSTDC_HEADERS -DTERMIOS_HEADER -DPOSIX -DDO_COMPRESS msg.c
gcc -O -s -o man man.o manfile.o manpath.o man-config.o man-getopt.o man-iconv.o to_cat.o different.o gripes.o glob.o util.o msg.o  
../conf_script man.conf
Creating man.conf from man.conf.in
rm -f apropos
sed -e 's,%apropos_or_whatis%,apropos,' \
	    -e 's,%version%,man-1.6e,' \
	    -e 's,%manpathoption%,--path,' \
		apropos.sh > apropos
chmod +x apropos
rm -f whatis
sed -e 's,%apropos_or_whatis%,whatis,' \
	    -e 's,%version%,man-1.6e,' \
	    -e 's,%manpathoption%,--path,' \
		apropos.sh > whatis
chmod +x whatis
rm -f makewhatis
cp makewhatis.sh makewhatis.in
../conf_script makewhatis
Creating makewhatis from makewhatis.in
chmod +x makewhatis
make[1]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/src'
cd man2html; ../conf_script Makefile			
Creating Makefile from Makefile.in
cd man2html; make
make[1]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man2html'
gcc -O -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes   -c -o man2html.o man2html.c
gcc -O -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes   -c -o cgibase.o cgibase.c
gcc -O -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes   -c -o abbrev.o abbrev.c
gcc -O -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes   -c -o strdefs.o strdefs.c
gcc -O  -o man2html man2html.o cgibase.o abbrev.o strdefs.o
rm -f hman
sed -e 's,%version%,man-1.6e,' hman.sh > hman
make[1]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man2html'
cd man; ../conf_script Makefile
Creating Makefile from Makefile.in
cd man; make subdirs
make[1]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man'

==== Making the english man pages. ====
make[2]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man/en'
Creating man.1 from man.1.in
Creating whatis.1 from whatis.1.in
Creating apropos.1 from apropos.1.in
Creating man.conf.5 from man.conf.5.in
for i in makewhatis; \
		do if test -f $i.man; then make -f ../Makefile $i.8; fi; done
make[3]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man/en'
Creating makewhatis.8 from makewhatis.8.in
make[3]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man/en'
make[2]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man/en'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man'

You can now do "make install"
root:/sources/man-1.6e# 
root:/sources/man-1.6e# make install
cd src; make install
make[1]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/src'
mkdir -p /usr/bin
install -c  man /usr/bin/man
install -c -m 755 apropos /usr/bin/apropos
install -c -m 755 whatis /usr/bin/whatis
install -c -m 755 man2dvi /usr/bin/man2dvi
mkdir -p /usr/sbin
install -c -m 754 makewhatis /usr/sbin/makewhatis
mkdir -p /etc
if [ -f /etc/man.conf ]; then mv /etc/man.conf /etc/man.conf.orig; fi
install -c -m 644 man.conf /etc/man.conf
make[1]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/src'
cd man2html; make install
make[1]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man2html'
mkdir -p /usr/bin
install -m 755 man2html /usr/bin
mkdir -p /usr/man/man1
install -m 644 man2html.1 /usr/man/man1/man2html.1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man2html'
cd man; make installsubdirs
make[1]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man'

==== Installing the english man pages. ====
make[2]: Entering directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man/en'
mkdir -p /usr/man/man1 /usr/man/man5 /usr/man/man8
for i in man whatis apropos; \
		do install -c -m 644 $i.1 /usr/man/man1/$i.1; done
for i in man.conf; \
		do install -c -m 644 $i.5 /usr/man/man5/$i.5; done
for i in makewhatis; \
		do if test -f $i.8; then install -c -m 644 $i.8 /usr/man/man8/$i.8; fi; done
make[2]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man/en'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/sources/man-1.6e/man'

Done.
In case you want to browse man pages using a www browser,
"cd man2html", read README, and perhaps "make install-scripts".
root:/sources/man-1.6e#