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Copy via tar pipe while preserving file permissions (cp does not!; run this command with root!)

Terminal - Copy via tar pipe while preserving file permissions (cp does not!; run this command with root!)
cp -pr olddirectory newdirectory
2009-08-22 22:11:24
User: stanishjohnd
Functions: cp
3
Up
Down
Copy via tar pipe while preserving file permissions (cp does not!; run this command with root!)

cp options:

-p will preserve the file mode, ownership, and timestamps

-r will copy files recursively

also, if you want to keep symlinks in addition to the above: use the -a/--archive option

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Alternatives

There is 1 alternative - vote for the best!

Terminal - Alternatives
tar -C /oldirectory -cvpf - . | tar -C /newdirector -xvf -
2009-08-22 20:05:49
User: Cowboy
Functions: tar
1
Up
Down
Copy via tar pipe while preserving file permissions (run this command as root!)

It's the same like 'cp -p' if available. It's faster over networks than scp. If you have to copy gigs of data you could also use netcat and the tar -z option in conjunction -- on the receiving end do:

# nc -l 7000 | tar -xzvpf -

...and on the sending end do:

# tar -czf - * | nc otherhost 7000

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tar cpof - src |( cd des; tar xpof -)
2009-09-20 20:43:30
User: davidpotter42
Functions: cd tar
-2
Up
Down
Bulk copy large blocks of data between File Systems (run as root iff you do not own all of the files!)

Using tape archive create a tar file in Stdout (-) and pipe that into a compound command to extract the tar file from Stdin at the destination. This similar to "Copy via tar pipe ...", but copies across file systems boundaries. I prefer to use cp -pr for copying within the same file system.

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What others think

This command will not preserve symbolic links or hard links. 'cp -P' preserves symlinks, but it cannot preserve hard links (note this is not the same as the --link option). Tar will preserve hard links and symlinks by default.

Comment by arcege 194 weeks ago

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