diff --git a/tests/main/manpages/task.yaml b/tests/main/manpages/task.yaml
index cb3974d2535..94fabc11275 100644
--- a/tests/main/manpages/task.yaml
+++ b/tests/main/manpages/task.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 summary: the essential manual pages are installed by the native package
+# core systems don't ship man or manual pages
+systems: [-ubuntu-core-16-64, -ubuntu-core-16-64-fixme, -ubuntu-core-16-arm-32, -ubuntu-core-16-arm-64]
 execute: |
     for manpage in snap snap-confine snap-discard-ns ubuntu-core-launcher; do
         if ! man --what $manpage; then