When PAGINATION_DISABLE_LINK_FOR_FIRST_PAGE is True, the href for the anchor tag for the number 1 page is blank. What this means is, when you click on the number 1, you just stay on the current page instead of going to page 1.
Look at this snippet of generated html. We are on page 4. If you hover over the number 1, the tooltip will show /current/path/?page=4. And, if you click on the number 1, nothing happens. You stay on the current page.
<div class="pagination">
<a href="?page=3" class="prev">‹‹ previous</a>
<a href="" class="page">1</a>
<a href="?page=2" class="page">2</a>
<a href="?page=3" class="page">3</a>
<span class="current page">4</span>
<a href="?page=5" class="page">5</a>
<a href="?page=6" class="page">6</a>
...
<a href="?page=8585" class="page">8585</a>
<a href="?page=8586" class="page">8586</a>
<a href="?page=5" class="next">next ››</a>
</div>
The problem is, the href for page 1 is blank. I think the bug is here, on line 25 of pagination.html.
{% if disable_link_for_first_page and page == 1 %}
<a href="{{ request.path }}{% if getvars %}?{{ getvars|slice:"1:" }}{% endif %}" class="page">{{ page }}</a>
I think there is another instance of the same problem on line 7 of pagination.html. When you are on page 2, the href for the anchor for the word "previous" is also blank. So if you are on page 2, and you click "previous", you stay on page 2.