diff --git a/builtin/help.c b/builtin/help.c
index 334a849..c2a3670 100644
--- a/builtin/help.c
+++ b/builtin/help.c
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ enum help_format {
        HELP_FORMAT_WEB
 };

+static const char *manpage_canary = "/usr/share/doc/git-man/copyright";
+
 static const char *html_path;

 static int show_all = 0;
@@ -342,8 +344,15 @@ static void show_man_page(const char *git_cmd)
        struct man_viewer_list *viewer;
        const char *page = cmd_to_page(git_cmd);
        const char *fallback = getenv("GIT_MAN_VIEWER");
+       struct stat throwaway;
+       int find_canary = 0;

        setup_man_path();
+       find_canary = stat(manpage_canary, &throwaway);
+       if (find_canary == -1) {
+               printf(_("git: no man pages installed, please ask your system administrator to install the git-man package.\n"));
+               exit(0);
+       }
        for (viewer = man_viewer_list; viewer; viewer = viewer->next)
        {
                exec_viewer(viewer->name, page); /* will return when unable */