Bob Proulx wrote:
> Axel Beckert wrote:
> > If I try to copy a symlink which points to a directory, cp refuses to do
> > so without -r despite it copies the symlink itself and not the contents
> > with "cp -r", even if the symlink was given on the commandline without
> > trailing slash:
>
> Thank you for the bug report. However I believe this to be correct
> behavior. The magic option isn't -r. The magic option is -d.
Ok.
> Symlinks violate some principles of least surprise. Therefore it is
> no surprise that it is impossible to make all uses of symlinks
> unsurprising.
Hehe.
> The cp documentation says:
>
> `-d'
> Copy symbolic links as symbolic links rather than copying the
> files that they point to, and preserve hard links between source
> files in the copies. Equivalent to `--no-dereference
> --preserve=links'.
>
> Therefore the intention is that to copy a symlink as a symlink the -d
> option should be included. (Note that -d is included in the -a option.)
Ok, accepted. Thanks for your time and explanation. They helped to
understand the issue a lot.
Regards, Axel
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