diff --git a/doc/man-pages/merge-pod b/doc/man-pages/merge-pod
index b1e0da363a..d35b6e1297 100755
--- a/doc/man-pages/merge-pod
+++ b/doc/man-pages/merge-pod
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 # Currently, only single include nesting is supported.  The included file is
 # not processed for additional =include statements.
 
-require 5.006;
+require 5.00503;
 
 use Cwd qw(getcwd);
 use File::Basename qw(dirname basename);
@@ -23,14 +23,14 @@ for my $file (@ARGV) {
     unless ($out =~ s/\.in\z//) {
         die "input file $file does not end in .in\n";
     }
-    open (FILE, '<', $file) or die "cannot open $file: $!\n";
-    open (OUT, '>', $out) or die "cannot open $out: $!\n";
+    open (FILE, "< $file") or die "cannot open $file: $!\n";
+    open (OUT, "> $out") or die "cannot open $out: $!\n";
     chdir $dir or die "cannot chdir to $dir: $!\n";
     local $/ = '';
     local $_;
     while (<FILE>) {
         if (/^=include\s+(\S+)/) {
-            open (INCLUDE, '<', $1) or die "cannot open $1: $!\n";
+            open (INCLUDE, "< $1") or die "cannot open $1: $!\n";
             local $/;
             print OUT <INCLUDE> or die "cannot read/write from $1: $!\n";
             close INCLUDE or die "cannot read from $1: $!\n";