Copying a file system w/ tar - symbolic links not copied right.

[Kevin Kinsey]

 > On 5/10/06, Don O'Neil <don at lizardhill.com> wrote:
 >>
 >> tar cf - /source/* | ( cd /destination && tar xfv - )
 >>
 >> It copies all the files, but the symbolic links are copied as files of
 >> 0 length, rather than re-established as links.
 >>
 >> What am I doing wrong here, or is my tar broken?


 > From: Andy Greenwood [mailto:greenwood.andy at gmail.com]
 > Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 6:24 PM
 > To: Don O'Neil
 >
 > # man tar
 >
 > specifically, the -L option


Don O'Neil wrote:
> My man says:
> 
>  -L number
>  --tape-length number    Change tapes after writing number * 1024 bytes. 
> 
> Nothing about symbolic links.... Now there is an option --unlink-first and
> --dereference... Both of which don't copy the links, but unlink or copy the
> actual source file.
> 
> Don
> 
> 

And again:

 >> What am I doing wrong here, or is my tar broken?

Heh, heh, could be.  Andy is referring to "BSDtar", which
is tar(1) on later releases, and your -L option is from "GNUtar",
which is tar(1) on, IIRC, 4.X and elder, and is now available in
ports as gtar.

As for what's really the problem, I can't say as I can tell.
On my 6.X box, everything works as expected.  For fun, I shelled
into a 4.11 box, and everything works as expected, both my tests
and your example.  Maybe your tar *is* broken.  Or, more likely,
we're both a tad dense ATM.

Kevin Kinsey

-- 
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