Docker ubuntu image - bash: man: command not found

Question

Am getting started with Docker and just pulled up a basic ubuntu image. I am on a windows 7 box running Docker via docker-machine.

Do not know why, I am not able to find the man command on bash. I tried exporting the path of man to $PATH but still no joy.

docker@default:~$ docker run -it ubuntu bash
root@2dd12b770666:/# man ls
bash: man: command not found
root@2dd12b770666:/# whereis man
man: /usr/local/man /usr/share/man
root@2dd12b770666:/# export PATH=/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man:$PATH
root@2dd12b770666:/# echo $PATH
/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
root@2dd12b770666:/# man
bash: man: command not found
root@2dd12b770666:/#

If export command does not work, not sure if editing bashrc would have any effect. So did not try that yet. Is there anything else I need to do to be able to run man on the docker image?

score 32 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 07 '18 at 04:28

32

You have to install man command in the container:

apt-get install man

edited Jan 07 '18 at 04:28

Adrian

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answered Oct 10 '15 at 04:51

Nguyen Sy Thanh Son

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Thought since /usr/share/man already contained content, man ought to be by default present. Thanks, – shrivb Oct 10 '15 at 05:00
@shrivb I was surprised to find that man was not available too. Only very thin Linux images will remove even the basic commands like `man` – Macindows Dec 19 '19 at 11:50

score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 30 '16 at 17:40

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Note: for a completely fresh docker install, you may need:

apt-get update
apt-get install man

(I did:apt-get install man and got E: Unable to locate package man at first)

answered Jul 30 '16 at 17:40

Mike Wyer

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This worked for me after getting the E: Unable to locate package man error at first – Bimal Sep 03 '17 at 05:34

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '15 at 03:58

Just install "man" inside container can solve your problem:

root@d16e09720264:/# apt-get install -y man

It seems that "man" should be already installed in container because you can find "man" by running whereis command:

root@d16e09720264:/# whereis man
man: /usr/local/man /usr/share/man

However, you can find the result of whereis has changed after intalling "man":

root@d16e09720264:/# whereis man
man: /usr/bin/man /usr/local/man /usr/share/man /usr/share/man/man1/man.1.gz

This indicates that "man" is not installed inside container by default. At least, "man" is not properly installed.

As far as I know, "vim" shows similar result.

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 04 '18 at 07:50

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$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install -y man

edited Sep 04 '18 at 07:50

EstevaoLuis

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answered Sep 04 '18 at 06:50

vikas bhandari

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While this might answer the authors question, it lacks some explaining words and links to documentation. Raw shell snippets are not very helpful without some phrases around it. You may also find [how to write a good answer](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer) very helpful. Please edit your answer. – hellow Sep 04 '18 at 09:15

Docker ubuntu image - bash: man: command not found

4 Answers4