How to Fix AWS CLI Help Errors: Step-by-Step Guide

When using AWS CLI and running the help command to look up parameters, you might encounter this error:

$ aws cloudfront help
Could not find executable named "groff or mandoc"

Cause of the Error

This happens when the system can’t find the manual tools “groff” or “mandoc”, which are required to display help pages in Linux.

Solution

Install mandoc using the following command:

sudo apt install -y mandoc

Alternatively, you can install groff with this:

sudo apt install -y groff

Conclusion

By installing one of these packages, the AWS CLI help command will function properly. This simple fix allows you to access CLI help features without further issues.

著者

30 years of experience as a web engineer, currently working as a freelance backend engineer.

PHP: ~30 years (Laravel 7 years / FuelPHP 5 years / CakePHP / custom frameworks)
JavaScript: ~20 years (React & Vue, 4 years each)
Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS (EC2, CloudFront, RDS, API Gateway, etc.) / GCP (BigQuery)

I have been writing PHP since version 4, back when the framework ecosystem was fragmented
and every team had their own approach. I've lived through the evolution firsthand —
from raw PHP and homegrown frameworks to the modern Laravel era —
which means I don't just know how to use a tool, but why it exists and what problem it replaced.

I work across system design, implementation, and operations, primarily on backend systems
for both product companies and contract-based projects.

On this blog, I write about the things I actually got stuck on, looked up, or figured out
in real-world projects. If something here unblocks even one person's day, that's enough for me.

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