diff --git a/doc/man_docs.go b/doc/man_docs.go
index b9266c36..1f90c44f 100644
--- a/doc/man_docs.go
+++ b/doc/man_docs.go
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ import (
 
 // GenManTree will generate a man page for this command and all descendants
 // in the directory given. The header may be nil. This function may not work
-// correctly if your command names have - in them. If you have `cmd` with two
-// subcmds, `sub` and `sub-third`. And `sub` has a subcommand called `third`
+// correctly if your command names have `-` in them. If you have `cmd` with two
+// subcmds, `sub` and `sub-third`, and `sub` has a subcommand called `third`
 // it is undefined which help output will be in the file `cmd-sub-third.1`.
 func GenManTree(cmd *cobra.Command, header *GenManHeader, dir string) error {
 	return GenManTreeFromOpts(cmd, GenManTreeOptions{
diff --git a/doc/man_docs.md b/doc/man_docs.md
index d568d9a0..3709160f 100644
--- a/doc/man_docs.md
+++ b/doc/man_docs.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Generating man pages from a cobra command is incredibly easy. An example is as f
 package main
 
 import (
+	"log"
+
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra/doc"
 )
@@ -19,7 +21,10 @@ func main() {
 		Title: "MINE",
 		Section: "3",
 	}
-	doc.GenManTree(cmd, header, "/tmp")
+	err := doc.GenManTree(cmd, header, "/tmp")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
 }
 ```
 
diff --git a/doc/man_docs_test.go b/doc/man_docs_test.go
index 26b8fcc6..9b272917 100644
--- a/doc/man_docs_test.go
+++ b/doc/man_docs_test.go
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
-var _ = fmt.Println
-var _ = os.Stderr
-
 func translate(in string) string {
 	return strings.Replace(in, "-", "\\-", -1)
 }
@@ -153,7 +150,7 @@ func TestGenManTree(t *testing.T) {
 	header := &GenManHeader{Section: "2"}
 	tmpdir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "test-gen-man-tree")
 	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to create tempdir: %s", err.Error())
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to create tmpdir: %s", err.Error())
 	}
 	defer os.RemoveAll(tmpdir)
 
diff --git a/doc/md_docs.go b/doc/md_docs.go
index 8d159c1d..408d2f74 100644
--- a/doc/md_docs.go
+++ b/doc/md_docs.go
@@ -52,10 +52,12 @@ func printOptions(w io.Writer, cmd *cobra.Command, name string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// GenMarkdown creates markdown output.
 func GenMarkdown(cmd *cobra.Command, w io.Writer) error {
 	return GenMarkdownCustom(cmd, w, func(s string) string { return s })
 }
 
+// GenMarkdownCustom creates custom markdown output.
 func GenMarkdownCustom(cmd *cobra.Command, w io.Writer, linkHandler func(string) string) error {
 	name := cmd.CommandPath()
 
@@ -141,6 +143,12 @@ func GenMarkdownCustom(cmd *cobra.Command, w io.Writer, linkHandler func(string)
 	return nil
 }
 
+// GenMarkdownTree will generate a markdown page for this command and all
+// descendants in the directory given. The header may be nil.
+// This function may not work correctly if your command names have `-` in them.
+// If you have `cmd` with two subcmds, `sub` and `sub-third`,
+// and `sub` has a subcommand called `third`, it is undefined which
+// help output will be in the file `cmd-sub-third.1`.
 func GenMarkdownTree(cmd *cobra.Command, dir string) error {
 	identity := func(s string) string { return s }
 	emptyStr := func(s string) string { return "" }
diff --git a/doc/md_docs.md b/doc/md_docs.md
index beec3e0e..56ce9fe8 100644
--- a/doc/md_docs.md
+++ b/doc/md_docs.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Generating man pages from a cobra command is incredibly easy. An example is as f
 package main
 
 import (
+	"log"
+
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra/doc"
 )
@@ -15,7 +17,10 @@ func main() {
 		Use:   "test",
 		Short: "my test program",
 	}
-	doc.GenMarkdownTree(cmd, "/tmp")
+	err := doc.GenMarkdownTree(cmd, "/tmp")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
 }
 ```
 
@@ -29,6 +34,7 @@ This program can actually generate docs for the kubectl command in the kubernete
 package main
 
 import (
+	"log"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 
@@ -40,7 +46,10 @@ import (
 
 func main() {
 	kubectl := cmd.NewKubectlCommand(cmdutil.NewFactory(nil), os.Stdin, ioutil.Discard, ioutil.Discard)
-	doc.GenMarkdownTree(kubectl, "./")
+	err := doc.GenMarkdownTree(kubectl, "./")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
 }
 ```
 
@@ -52,7 +61,10 @@ You may wish to have more control over the output, or only generate for a single
 
 ```go
 	out := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	doc.GenMarkdown(cmd, out)
+	err := doc.GenMarkdown(cmd, out)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
 ```
 
 This will write the markdown doc for ONLY "cmd" into the out, buffer.
diff --git a/doc/md_docs_test.go b/doc/md_docs_test.go
index 86ee0293..f4f3bc14 100644
--- a/doc/md_docs_test.go
+++ b/doc/md_docs_test.go
@@ -2,14 +2,14 @@ package doc
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
-)
 
-var _ = fmt.Println
-var _ = os.Stderr
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
 
 func TestGenMdDoc(t *testing.T) {
 	c := initializeWithRootCmd()
@@ -86,3 +86,22 @@ func TestGenMdNoTag(t *testing.T) {
 	checkStringOmits(t, found, unexpected)
 
 }
+
+func TestGenMdTree(t *testing.T) {
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use: "do [OPTIONS] arg1 arg2",
+	}
+	tmpdir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "test-gen-md-tree")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to create tmpdir: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(tmpdir)
+
+	if err := GenMarkdownTree(cmd, tmpdir); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("GenMarkdownTree failed: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(tmpdir, "do.md")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected file 'do.md' to exist")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/doc/yaml_docs.go b/doc/yaml_docs.go
index ac8db89e..f5cd5a32 100644
--- a/doc/yaml_docs.go
+++ b/doc/yaml_docs.go
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ type cmdDoc struct {
 
 // GenYamlTree creates yaml structured ref files for this command and all descendants
 // in the directory given. This function may not work
-// correctly if your command names have - in them. If you have `cmd` with two
-// subcmds, `sub` and `sub-third`. And `sub` has a subcommand called `third`
+// correctly if your command names have `-` in them. If you have `cmd` with two
+// subcmds, `sub` and `sub-third`, and `sub` has a subcommand called `third`
 // it is undefined which help output will be in the file `cmd-sub-third.1`.
 func GenYamlTree(cmd *cobra.Command, dir string) error {
 	identity := func(s string) string { return s }
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func GenYamlTree(cmd *cobra.Command, dir string) error {
 	return GenYamlTreeCustom(cmd, dir, emptyStr, identity)
 }
 
-// GenYamlTreeCustom creates yaml structured ref files
+// GenYamlTreeCustom creates yaml structured ref files.
 func GenYamlTreeCustom(cmd *cobra.Command, dir string, filePrepender, linkHandler func(string) string) error {
 	for _, c := range cmd.Commands() {
 		if !c.IsAvailableCommand() || c.IsAdditionalHelpTopicCommand() {
@@ -82,12 +82,12 @@ func GenYamlTreeCustom(cmd *cobra.Command, dir string, filePrepender, linkHandle
 	return nil
 }
 
-// GenYaml creates yaml output
+// GenYaml creates yaml output.
 func GenYaml(cmd *cobra.Command, w io.Writer) error {
 	return GenYamlCustom(cmd, w, func(s string) string { return s })
 }
 
-// GenYamlCustom creates custom yaml output
+// GenYamlCustom creates custom yaml output.
 func GenYamlCustom(cmd *cobra.Command, w io.Writer, linkHandler func(string) string) error {
 	yamlDoc := cmdDoc{}
 	yamlDoc.Name = cmd.CommandPath()
diff --git a/doc/yaml_docs.md b/doc/yaml_docs.md
index 4d0c75a1..1a9b7c6a 100644
--- a/doc/yaml_docs.md
+++ b/doc/yaml_docs.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Generating yaml files from a cobra command is incredibly easy. An example is as
 package main
 
 import (
+	"log"
+
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra/doc"
 )
@@ -15,7 +17,10 @@ func main() {
 		Use:   "test",
 		Short: "my test program",
 	}
-	doc.GenYamlTree(cmd, "/tmp")
+	err := doc.GenYamlTree(cmd, "/tmp")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
 }
 ```
 
@@ -30,6 +35,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
 	"os"
 
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubectl/cmd"
@@ -40,7 +46,10 @@ import (
 
 func main() {
 	kubectl := cmd.NewKubectlCommand(cmdutil.NewFactory(nil), os.Stdin, ioutil.Discard, ioutil.Discard)
-	doc.GenYamlTree(kubectl, "./")
+	err := doc.GenYamlTree(kubectl, "./")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
 }
 ```
 
diff --git a/doc/yaml_docs_test.go b/doc/yaml_docs_test.go
index a41499e1..fb969da2 100644
--- a/doc/yaml_docs_test.go
+++ b/doc/yaml_docs_test.go
@@ -2,14 +2,14 @@ package doc
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
-)
 
-var _ = fmt.Println
-var _ = os.Stderr
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
 
 func TestGenYamlDoc(t *testing.T) {
 	c := initializeWithRootCmd()
@@ -86,3 +86,23 @@ func TestGenYamlNoTag(t *testing.T) {
 	checkStringOmits(t, found, unexpected)
 
 }
+
+func TestGenYamlTree(t *testing.T) {
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use: "do [OPTIONS] arg1 arg2",
+	}
+
+	tmpdir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "test-gen-yaml-tree")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to create tmpdir: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(tmpdir)
+
+	if err := GenYamlTree(cmd, tmpdir); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("GenYamlTree failed: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(tmpdir, "do.yaml")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected file 'do.yaml' to exist")
+	}
+}