1 files changed, 20 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/tasks/spellcheck.rb b/tasks/spellcheck.rb
index 0eb8924a81..d43495a7ae 100644
--- a/tasks/spellcheck.rb
+++ b/tasks/spellcheck.rb
@@ -20,15 +20,33 @@ namespace :spellcheck do
     sh 'cspell lint --no-progress "**/*"'
   end
 
-  task prereqs: %i{cspell_check config_check fetch_common}
+  task prereqs: %i{curl_check cspell_check config_check fetch_common}
+
+  task :curl_check do
+    curl_version = begin
+                     `curl --version`
+                   rescue
+                     nil
+                   end
+
+    curl_version.is_a?(String) || abort(<<~INSTALL_CURL)
+      curl is not available, cannot download chef_dictionary.txt
+    INSTALL_CURL
+  end
 
   task :fetch_common do
-    sh "wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chef/chef_dictionary/master/chef.txt -O chef_dictionary.txt"
+    sh "curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chef/chef_dictionary/master/chef.txt -o chef_dictionary.txt"
   end
 
   task :config_check do
     require "json"
 
+    chef_dictionary = "chef_dictionary.txt"
+
+    unless File.readable?(chef_dictionary)
+      abort "Dictionary file '#{chef_dictionary}' not found, skipping spellcheck"
+    end
+
     config_file = "cspell.json"
 
     unless File.readable?(config_file)