How to add/install man pages in Alpine Linux

How to get man pages working in Alpine Linux

Type the following apk command to install man pages:
# apk add man man-pages
## NOTE: If you are using Alpine Linux 3.12 or above try ##
# apk add mandoc man-pages


Fig.01: Installing man pages in Alpine Linux with apk command

Suggested command to get man pages installed on Alpine

Run:
# apk add man man-pages mdocml-apropos less less-doc
## NOTE: Alpine Linux 3.12 or above user try the following ##
# apk add mandoc man-pages mandoc-apropos less less-doc

Sample outputs:

(1/6) Installing less (551-r0)
(2/6) Installing less-doc (551-r0)
(3/6) Installing mdocml (1.14.3-r3)
(4/6) Installing man (1.14.3-r3)
(5/6) Installing man-pages (5.01-r0)
(6/6) Installing mdocml-apropos (1.14.3-r3)
Executing busybox-1.30.1-r2.trigger
Executing mdocml-apropos-1.14.3-r3.trigger
OK: 112 MiB in 95 packages

How to install missing man pages for specific package

Say, you installed bash on Alpine Linux or rsync command on Alpine Linux, and you need those man pages. Here is how to search and install those missing man pages:
# apk search rsync
# apk search bash
# apk add rsync-doc bash-doc

Examples

To display man page use the following simple syntax:
man command
man {section} command-name
Each man page comes in sections. The table below shows the section numbers of the manual followed by the types of pages they contain:

For example, to display ls command man page, enter:
$ man ls
Let us see the password (/etc/passwd) file man page format from section # 5:
$ man 5 passwd
See how to install man pages on a Ubuntu Linux.

How do I search for man pages packages?

The above command only installs core man pages on Alpine Linux. Other packages typically may not include their man pages or other documentation. Those packages might provide an associated package that carries such stuff. For example, nginx server installed on Alpine but man page is not installed by default:
$ man nginx
Sample outputs:

man: No entry for nginx in the manual.

One can search for documentation package using the combination of apk command and grep command as follows:
apk search nginx | grep -- -doc
Sample outputs:

perl-test-nginx-doc-0.26-r0
nginx-doc-1.16.1-r0

Now you can install nginx-doc package, run:
# apk add nginx-doc

(1/1) Installing nginx-doc (1.16.1-r0)
Executing mdocml-apropos-1.14.3-r3.trigger
OK: 112 MiB in 96 packages

Test it:
man nginx

How to set up PAGER variable to less or most or more

The command line syntax for bash/sh is:
export PAGER=less
OR if you have most command installed:
export PAGER=most
Make sure you add it to your shell config file (make sure you install bash shell on Alpine Linux or adjust settings as per your shell):
echo 'export PAGER=less' >> $HOME/.bashrc

Conclusion

This page explained how to install man pages in Alpine Linux. For more information, see the official project home page