Re: Adding a --preserve= option to install

[Mike Frysinger]

On Friday 07 June 2013 19:53:14 Bob Proulx wrote:
> 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.)

we have a spec for installing things.  part of that spec allows for adding 
custom args to the `install` invocation.  rather than doing it along the lines 
of the desired result (i.e. saying "make sure the file ends up with mode 0755" 
or "set the ownership to 'root'"), we open coded it to allow arbitrary 
`install` options.

so the code looks like:
        insopts -m 755 -g wheel
        doins foo.sh

it's certainly not impossible to code up the translation layer between 
`install` options and `cp`, but it is also not a trivial task, and it opens 
the door to breaking the spec.
-mike

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