sphinx generates \(aq for '

[ofaaland]

When .rst files have an apostrophe, sphinx generates "\aq" in its place in the corresponding man page.

Observed with:
mpifileutils tag v0.11.1
sphinx 5.3.0
python 3.6

For example, in doc/rst/dcp.1.rst text

   Do not follow symbolic links in source paths. Effectviely allows
   symbolic links to be copied when the link target is not valid
   or there is not permission to read the link's target.

generates

Do not follow symbolic links in source paths. Effectviely allows
symbolic links to be copied when the link target is not valid
or there is not permission to read the link\(aqs target.

in man/dcp.1.

[ofaaland]

Adding backslashes or doubling the apostrophe doesn't change behavior. \(aq is substituted for ' if the source .rst file contains any of the below examples:

link''s
link'''s
link\'s
link\\'s
link\\\'s

[ofaaland]

"aq" means "apostrophe, neutral single quote" in groff:
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/groff_char.7.html

and indeed, when I look at the dcp.1 man page produced by sphinx which has the link\(aqs target using the command-line man page rader on rhel 8.10, the apostrophe appears as it should.