--- cook-2.33.orig/common/help.c
+++ cook-2.33/common/help.c
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ help_env(void)
     /*
      * set the MANPATH environment variable
      */
-    s = wl2str(&manpath, 0, manpath.nstrings, ":");
+    s = wl2str_respect_empty(&manpath, 0, manpath.nstrings, ":", 1);
     string_list_destructor(&manpath);
     env_set("MANPATH", s->str_text);
     str_free(s);