Aws-cli: ExecutableNotFoundError: Could not find executable named "groff"

[enricostano]

I just installed awscli package in a Ubuntu 14.04 LXC container using:

sudo apt-get install awscli

Version is:

$ aws --version
aws-cli/1.2.9 Python/3.4.3 Linux/4.7.4-1-ARCH

But running the help command I get the following output and error:

$ aws --debug help
2016-09-21 11:26:36,913 - awscli.clidriver - DEBUG - CLI version: aws-cli/1.2.9 Python/3.4.3 Linux/4.7.4-1-ARCH, botocore version: 0.29.0
2016-09-21 11:26:36,915 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-title.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_title of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,915 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-description.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_description of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,915 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-start.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_start of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,915 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.debug: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,915 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.endpoint-url: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.no-verify-ssl: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.no-paginate: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.output: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.query: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.profile: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.region: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.version: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-option.Provider.aws.color: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-synopsis-end.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_synopsis_end of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-options-start.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_options_start of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.debug: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.debug: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.endpoint-url: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,916 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.endpoint-url: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.no-verify-ssl: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.no-verify-ssl: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.no-paginate: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.no-paginate: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.output: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.output: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.query: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.query: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.profile: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.profile: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.region: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,917 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.region: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.version: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.version: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option.Provider.aws.color: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_option of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-option-example.Provider.aws.color: calling handler <bound method ParamShorthand.add_example_fn of <awscli.argprocess.ParamShorthand object at 0x7f0a540216a0>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-options-end.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_options_end of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitems-start.Provider.aws: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitems_start of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.autoscaling: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.cloudformation: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.cloudtrail: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.cloudwatch: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.configure: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.directconnect: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,918 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.dynamodb: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.ec2: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.elasticache: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.elasticbeanstalk: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.elastictranscoder: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.elb: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.help: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.iam: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.importexport: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.kinesis: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.opsworks: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.rds: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.redshift: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.route53: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.s3: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.s3api: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.ses: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,919 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.sns: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.sqs: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.storagegateway: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.sts: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.support: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-subitem.Provider.aws.swf: calling handler <bound method ProviderDocumentEventHandler.doc_subitem of <awscli.clidocs.ProviderDocumentEventHandler object at 0x7f0a53d57c50>>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - botocore.hooks - DEBUG - Event doc-examples.Provider.aws: calling handler <function add_examples at 0x7f0a54025400>
2016-09-21 11:26:36,920 - awscli.customizations.addexamples - DEBUG - Looking for example file at: /usr/share/awscli/awscli/examples/Provider/aws.rst
2016-09-21 11:26:36,988 - awscli.clidriver - DEBUG - Exception caught in main()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/awscli/awscli/clidriver.py", line 187, in main
    return command_table[parsed_args.command](remaining, parsed_args)
  File "/usr/share/awscli/awscli/help.py", line 233, in __call__
    self.renderer.render(self.doc.getvalue())
  File "/usr/share/awscli/awscli/help.py", line 88, in render
    raise ExecutableNotFoundError('groff')
awscli.help.ExecutableNotFoundError: Could not find executable named "groff"
2016-09-21 11:26:36,988 - awscli.clidriver - DEBUG - Exiting with rc 255
Could not find executable named "groff"

I could find other similar issues related to missing less command, but this seems to be another issue.

[jamesls]

What happens when you run groff --version? Just trying to understand if this is because the CLI can't figure out where groff is installed or if you don't have groff installed. If it's the later you'll need to manually install that. It might even be worth having this as a dependency of the CLI in the APT package (we don't maintain any ubuntu packages so I'm not sure who to reach out to for that).

[enricostano]

If it's the later you'll need to manually install that. It might even be worth having this as a dependency of the CLI in the APT package (we don't maintain any ubuntu packages so I'm not sure who to reach out to for that).

Yep, I guess that's issue. The version for trusty is really old also :disappointed:

Will install using pip. Is that OK for a production environment?

Thanks for your help :smiley:

[jamesls]

No problem. Installing with pip is a fully supported way of installing the AWS CLI.

Let us know if you're still running into issues.

[josehbez]

My solution was install groff sudo apt-get install groff