Re: [PATCH] doc: mention the new mirroring behavior of cp -au

[Jim Meyering]

Pádraig Brady wrote:
> I'm still not sure about this new partial mirroring behaviour of
> cp -au, but I don't know how to avoid it. The attached patch at least
> documents the change.

Thanks.  I should have done that.

> Subject: [PATCH] doc: mention the new mirroring behavior of cp -au
>
> * NEWS: Mention the change in behavior.
> * doc/coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Likewise.
> ---
>  NEWS               |    3 +++
>  doc/coreutils.texi |    6 ++++--
>  2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
> index 291ce13..5c957c5 100644
> --- a/NEWS
> +++ b/NEWS
> @@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- 
> outline -*-
>    chmod, chown and chgrp now output the original attributes in messages,
>    when -v or -c specified.
>
> +  cp -au (where --preserve=links is implicit) now replaces possibly newer

s/now replaces/may now replace/ ?

...since whether it replaces them depends on the order
in which readdir processes entries in the containing directory.

> +  separate files in the destination, to mirror hard links from the source.
> +
>  ** New features
>
>    md5sum accepts the new --strict option.  With --check, it makes the
> diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
> index b406a3c..4dfe747 100644
> --- a/doc/coreutils.texi
> +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
> @@ -7954,8 +7954,10 @@ same or newer modification time.  If time stamps are 
> being preserved,
>  the comparison is to the source time stamp truncated to the
>  resolutions of the destination file system and of the system calls
>  used to update time stamps; this avoids duplicate work if several
> -@samp{cp -pu} commands are executed with the same source and
> -destination.
> +@samp{cp -pu} commands are executed with the same source and destination.
> +If @option{--preserve=links} is also specified (like with @samp{cp -au}
> +for example), that will take precedence, replacing possibly newer
> +separate files in the destination to mirror hard links from the source.