diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index f42f132553..620b4d22f0 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -6556,7 +6556,7 @@ endif
 #
 # Require python when making dist
 #
-.PHONY: dist-check-python
+.PHONY: dist-check-python dist-check-compat-libs dist-check-help
 dist-check-python:
 if !HAVE_PYTHON
 	@echo "*** python and python-lxml module must be installed and enabled in order to make dist"
@@ -6569,6 +6569,14 @@ if !ENABLE_COMPAT_LIBS
 	@false
 endif
 
+dist-check-help: $(rootbin_PROGRAMS) $(bin_PROGRAMS)
+	for i in $(abspath $^); do                                             \
+            if $$i  --help | grep -v 'default:' | grep -E -q '.{80}.' ; then   \
+		echo "$(basename $$i) --help output is too wide:";             \
+	        $$i  --help | awk 'length > 80' | grep -E --color=yes '.{80}'; \
+	        exit 1;                                                        \
+            fi; done
+
 dist: dist-check-python dist-check-compat-libs
 
 # check "broken" platforms limited toolchains for link breakage before we release
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index d3b4b1d91a..7f5db20da4 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -31,10 +31,6 @@ External:
 
 Features:
 
-* add test targets to Makefile that runs all our tools with "--help"
-  and checks if the output is identical to the output when passed
-  through "fold -w 79".
-
 * nspawn: emulate /dev/kmsg using CUSE and turn off the syslog syscall
   with seccomp. That should provide us with a useful log buffer that
   systemd can log to during early boot, and disconnect container logs