On Sat, 5 Apr 2008 16:56:31 -0700 (PDT), [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am writing a script that will backup specified folders from one hard > drive to another (for example, backup source "C:\DATA", destination "D: > \Backup"), and was thinking of using shutil.
I'd avoid doing that (writing a backup script, that is). It may be fine if your goal is using it only under MS-DOS, and not distribute it. But making it robust (vital to a backup utility!) and portable is tricky. You have to handle things like - symbolic links (when to follow, when not to) - hard links - copying metadata of various kinds (timestamps, permissions, ACLs, file system-specific metadata) - non-obvious error handling (like copying the file 'foo', but the target exists as a directory and must be rmdir()ed first) - ... I believe it is better to write a script which drives a widely known and well-tested copying utility. On Unix these include tar, cpio and rsync -- don't know which ones are common under DOS (xcopy?) I guess I'm saying that I do not trust module shutil. I see now that it documents how it treats some of the things above, but ... /Jorgen -- // Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu \X/ snipabacken.se> R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
