> In my case I was copying the /var tree and it left out /var/run/printer > and /var/run/.nscd_socket which are both symbolic links to elsewhere.
You sure they were sym-links and not "socket" files? Sym-link should have an "l" in the far left of 'ls -l' output. A named socket would have an "s" in the far left of the same listing. Named sockets never get copied, from all the docs and refs I've seen. Files which do get copied are: plain, directory (sort of), char special, block special, symbolic link, and named pipe (this last one not to be confused with named socket). The two in question should be recreated automagically as needed.
