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I can’t get man to work in an Alpine Linux Docker container.

Pull Alpine Linux and start a container.

docker pull alpine:latest
docker run -t -i alpine /bin/ash

Update repository indexes from all remote repositories.

apk update

Install man and man-pages.

apk add man man-pages

Install a package and its documentation.

apk add curl
apk add curl-doc

Try to view the man pages.

/ # man curl
/usr/share/man/mandoc.db: No such file or directory
man: outdated mandoc.db lacks curl(1) entry,
     consider running  # makewhatis /usr/share/man
more: -s: No such file or directory
/ #

What?

Update

Following @EugenMayer’s advice to add mdicml-apropos, I can get curl --manual to work but not man curl. Unfortunately, gnupg --manual doesn’t work at all. This behaviour is inconsistent and unexpected.

lukejanicke
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    I would suggest not to install man or any other extra packages which will make it larger image. The Alpine docker came into picture due to lightweight containerization. So, just install required packages or use official Alpine images (httpd,tomcat,java, etc) you can refer man pages from your local Linux based machine. – Nitin Aug 20 '16 at 14:38
  • Fair enough. I’m actually trying to create my own containered GnuPG environment. In the process of learning, `man ...` is sometimes more insightful than `... --help`. – lukejanicke Aug 20 '16 at 15:07

4 Answers4

6

You need to add 

apk add mdocml-apropos

and then for each package you need the man packages for

apk add curl-doc

and you are set to go to use man after, like you already did

apk add man man-pages mdocml-apropos

The source for this (plus added the mdocml-apropos which is missing there) is https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_Linux:FAQ#Why_don.27t_I_have_man_pages_or_where_is_the_.27man.27_command.3F but interstingly, i cannot get it working myself.

Also tried to export TERM=xterm to see if thats in iteractivity issue but it is not.

Also tried makewhatis /usr/share/man manually, but no sucess.

Interestingly though:

ls  -la /usr/share/man/man1/curl-config.1.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1687 Aug  4 15:07 /usr/share/man/man1/curl-config.1.gz

So there is a manpage

Eugen Mayer
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5

For me, to get rid of this error:

man man
more: -s: No such file or directory

I use: 

export PAGER=less

then it works

Cactus
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Rodrigo Gomez
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1


This seems a pretty old question, however I'm going to post my answer anyway, maybe it could be useful for someone else in the future.
I tried the solution for Alpine Linux v3.15 Docker container and it works.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. docker pull alpine:3.15

  2. docker run --rm --name alpine -it alpine:3.15 /bin/sh

  3. apk add curl

  4. apk add curl-doc

  5. typing man curl, you will obtain the following error:

    /bin/sh: man: not found

  6. In order to resolve the above error, type: apk add mandoc man-pages

  7. You should be able to view and browse the curl's manual page!

In case you still face an error, type the following command: export PAGER=less and then try to look curl's manual page up again.

Additional resources: Install man in an alpine linux docker container

Luca Oddone
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0

In fact, this has to do with the way you are connected to the container. I'm using alpine a lot with LXD, and generally can't read any man page when connected via lxc exec container ash. I suppose docker connect you to the container the same way.

$ lxc exec alp03 ash
~ # man man
more: -s: No such file or directory

So you can use su -, and then you will be able to use man:

~ # su -
alp03:~# man man
MAN(1P)                    POSIX Programmer's Manual
(...)

Note how the prompt is different after the su - command.

Also, if I run a ssh server inside the container and then connect to this container via ssh, then man is working perfectly.

didier
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