On Sat, 16 Jun 2001, Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:
> On Sat, 16 Jun 2001 14:34:07 +1000 (EST)
> Bruce Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> BE> cp is also broken for symlinks to valid pathnames for nonexistent files;
> BE>
> BE> $ rm -f foo
> BE> $ ln -s /nonesuch foo
> BE> $ cp foo bar
> BE>
> BE> This duplicates foo as a symlink, but should just fail.
>
> This is correct behaviour IMHO - why on earth should it fail. If I
> copy a directory containing symlinks I don't want them do vanish just because
> the target is unavailable.
Because cp copies file contents, not file nodes (unless the -R flag is
specified). This is clarified in current POSIX drafts. gnu cp gets
this right.
Bruce
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