begin Donncha O Caoimh quotation:
> What's so bad about using "cp -avf" instead, except for the possibility
> that "cp" on the platform in question may not support "-av" of course?
Ordinarily, one would want at least to also use -x (to not
accidentally copy filesystems mounted within the tree to be copied).
It's a good habit to get into, otherwise you'll some day try to copy
/ , and end up (among other things) trying to cp /proc .
GNU cp has the disadvantage of incrementing files' time stamps. (You
might wish to keep those intact.) It doesn't handle sparse filesystems
very intelligently (even if you include option --sparse=always). You
might thus prefer to trust other tools with your data.
I'd personally go with "rsync -avz source destination" for routine
cases. Or "(cd source && 'tar Sczpf -) | (cd destination && tar Sxvzpf -)" ,
as long as I'm sure I'm using the GNU version of tar.
More at:
http://www.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/varesearch/solution?11=010228-0000&130=0983415877
--
Cheers, Right to keep and bear
Rick Moen Haiku shall not be abridged
rick at linuxmafia.com Or denied. So there.
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