Subject: Re: bug#17103: regression: cp -al doesn't copy symlinks, but tries to link to them (fail)

From: Eric Blake <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 05:37:27 -0600

On 03/26/2014 10:44 PM, Linda Walsh wrote:

> 
> cp has a workaround for directories and it has exactly this
> workaround on other OS that don't support hardlinking.

That "workaround" is behavior mandated by POSIX, and has existed prior
to POSIX even being standardized.

> 
> I don't see why this shouldn't be treated similarly to the
> 2nd case, as the OS no longer supports hardlinking in as
> many cases as it used to -- so why shouldn't it fall back?

It's better to not second guess the kernel; you may want to take this up
on the kernel lists if you want something changed.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org