[PATCH] adding two new options to 'cp'

[Rick C. Petty]

On Mon, Jul 31, 2006 at 05:47:09PM +0200, Juan Rodriguez wrote:
> 
> My GNU version of "cp" has more than 18 options, the FreeBSD
> version only has 9.
> 
> As I usually work with Linux machines, I'm used to "cp -a" and I have always
> hated to have to look up in the FreeBSD's "cp" manual page for the right
> options to get the same funtionality.   I tend to think
> that "-a" is option bloating because it's not really needed, but I see
> "-l" as a new feature for "cp" that might be useful.

I agree, -a is bloat.  However I don't understand why you say:

> To sum it up, I think "cp -a" and "cp -l" are both useful,

I agree that the "-l" option *may* be useful.

> the first one
> because of compatibility with the large base of Linux systems out there, and
> the second one because I think it's a useful feature for the FreeBSD "cp".

In both cases, why don't you just use:

/usr/compat/linux/bin/cp

If you're not going to add all 18 options to our cp, then -a shouldn't be
added at all.  It doesn't provide any useful functionality, and the
argument to make it more compatible with Linux is silly unless you add the
other 9 options.  If you want the linux cp, use the linux cp.

-- Rick C. Petty