Oh, there _is_ a bug. Compare what the documentation says, with a bit of variable expansion that I did to show the bug (between parentheses):
Documentation says: $prefix Should normally be */usr/local* $localstatedir Should normally be */usr/local/var* But write it as *$prefix/var* (= /usr/local/var; OK) $runstatedir Should normally be */var/run* But write it as *$localstatedir/run* (= $prefix/var/run) (= /usr/local/var/run) (!= /var/run; NOK) Do you realize the bug now? This is intended and not a bug, "should normally" doesn't mean that it is, or must be. *You* are _supposed_ to pass the right thing for your system, the defaults are (i.e. localstatedir = runstatedir) is to make it easy for people just doing a "default" install, but if your system has someting else, you need to modify it (i,e., the 'should be'). So not a bug, but intended behaivour.