Re: Adding a --preserve= option to install

[Bob Proulx]

Anthony G. Basile wrote:
> Pádraig Brady wrote:
> > I don't suppose you could use `cp` rather than `install` for this
> > use case?
>
> Using cp instead of install would be a long shot here for our
> package manager people but I can talk to them.

Why?  What makes cp scary?  (I would be inclined to use rsync.)

> I'm bothered by the asymmetry between cp and install because I'd
> like my "make install" to be able to have options to preserve
> metadata selectively, ownership, perms and xattrs.

But "make" reads a Makefile and performs the stated actions.  There
isn't anything magical about "make install".  You can still type in
"make install" and it will run whatever is in the Makefile.  It could
be written up to use 'install' or 'cp' or 'rsync' or some combination
of all of the above and it will still be "make install".

Bob