GNU bug report logs - #14383
cp --one-file-system / will not copy whole root filesystem

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pavel Machek <pavel <at> ucw.cz>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: cp --one-file-system / will not copy whole root filesystem
Date: Fri, 10 May 2013 12:55:36 +0200

Hi!

On systems like linux, cp / -a --one-file-system (destination) will
not copy whole root filesystem. It is not cp's fault, but the
behaviour is quite surprising to the users, so maybe it would be worth
warning in man page?

Something like

       -x, --one-file-system
              stay on this file system

	      Note that on systems that allow mounts over non-empty
	      directories (like Linux), cp / -ax (destination) will
	      not copy whole filesystem. In particular, content of
	      /dev will not be usually copied, because distributions
	      mount tmpfs over /dev.

[Ok, there's hopefully better wording...?]
									Pavel

-- 
(english) http://www.livejournal.com/~pavelmachek
(cesky, pictures) http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/picture/horses/blog.html

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