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tar copy

Terminal - tar copy
tar cf - dir_to_cp/ | (cd path_to_put/ && tar xvf -)
2009-08-04 16:51:31
User: jsiei97
Functions: cd tar
1
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tar copy

Just a copy of a big dir when you wan't things like ownership and date etc etc to be untouched.

Note: Updated with the ideas from "mpb".

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Alternatives

There are 7 alternatives - vote for the best!

Terminal - Alternatives

Know a better way?

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What others think

Points for piping and grouping, but this seems like a useless use of tar here. tar provides a 'p' option which is exactly what you what but aren't using. Or you could just use the archive option of cp:

cp -a dir_to_cp path_to_put
Comment by bwoodacre 198 weeks and 2 days ago

I prefer the following:

tar cf - $source_dir | (cd $dest_dir && tar -xvf -)

because:

a) It's good practice to use the "&&". If there was something

wrong with the "cd" then no data is copied.

b) using the "v" on the right hand side shows the file/dir names as they "arrive" at the destination.

Again, if something fails, you will see what file/dir was last written OK.

Point of historical interest: I often speculate if the "-)" in this tar pipeline was the origin of the smiley. D'ya think? :-)

Comment by mpb 198 weeks and 1 day ago

I like you idea to move the v and to change ; into &&. Must try it out :)

Comment by jsiei97 198 weeks ago

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