diff --git a/app-editors/nano/nano-2.9.6.ebuild b/app-editors/nano/nano-2.9.6.ebuild
index 2b29359919a76..a0bec925c03d5 100644
--- a/app-editors/nano/nano-2.9.6.ebuild
+++ b/app-editors/nano/nano-2.9.6.ebuild
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ src_configure() {
 
 src_install() {
 	default
-	rm -rf "${ED%/}"/trash
+	# don't use "${ED}" here or things break (#654534)
+	rm -r "${D%/}"/trash || die
 
 	dodoc doc/sample.nanorc
 	docinto html
diff --git a/app-editors/nano/nano-9999.ebuild b/app-editors/nano/nano-9999.ebuild
index 2b29359919a76..a0bec925c03d5 100644
--- a/app-editors/nano/nano-9999.ebuild
+++ b/app-editors/nano/nano-9999.ebuild
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ src_configure() {
 
 src_install() {
 	default
-	rm -rf "${ED%/}"/trash
+	# don't use "${ED}" here or things break (#654534)
+	rm -r "${D%/}"/trash || die
 
 	dodoc doc/sample.nanorc
 	docinto html