diff --git a/oslo_config/generator.py b/oslo_config/generator.py
index a081d1b3..4964ca95 100644
--- a/oslo_config/generator.py
+++ b/oslo_config/generator.py
@@ -748,7 +748,13 @@ def main(args=None):
     logging.basicConfig(level=logging.WARN)
     conf = cfg.ConfigOpts()
     register_cli_opts(conf)
-    conf(args, version=version)
+    try:
+        conf(args, version=version)
+    except cfg.RequiredOptError:
+        conf.print_help()
+        if not sys.argv[1:]:
+            raise SystemExit
+        raise
     generate(conf)
 
 
diff --git a/oslo_config/tests/test_generator.py b/oslo_config/tests/test_generator.py
index 015521e1..4c92eb50 100644
--- a/oslo_config/tests/test_generator.py
+++ b/oslo_config/tests/test_generator.py
@@ -1581,10 +1581,10 @@ class GeneratorRaiseErrorTestCase(base.BaseTestCase):
         with mock.patch('pkg_resources.iter_entry_points', fake_eps):
             self.assertRaises(FakeException, generator.generate, self.conf)
 
-    def test_generator_call_with_no_arguments_raises_error(self):
+    def test_generator_call_with_no_arguments_raises_system_exit(self):
         testargs = ['oslo-config-generator']
         with mock.patch('sys.argv', testargs):
-            self.assertRaises(cfg.RequiredOptError, generator.main, [])
+            self.assertRaises(SystemExit, generator.main, [])
 
 
 class ChangeDefaultsTestCase(base.BaseTestCase):