parted boot disk shell cp failure

[Ron]

> On Wed, Jun 27, 2001 at 01:59:51PM -0400, Ron wrote:
> > I have the parted bootdisk 1.4.5.  I used the shell cp command to copy
> > part of a partition to a new partition.  However, the cp command did not
> > copy the owner & group numbers, but set them all to 0 on every file it
> > copied!  Is this a bug or a feature of the shell that you're using in
> > the parted bootdisk?
> 
> Which "cp" did you use?  The "cp" from within parted, like this:
> 
>       (parted) cp A B
>               where A and B are partition numbers
> 
> to copy from partition A to partition B?
> 
> Or, the shell command:
> 
>       # cp -r / /somewhere-else
> 
> If you are talking about the first case... then it's a bug.  If the
> later, then that's how cp(1) always works!  (And you've probably
> got a bit confused, and should be using the first one...)
> 
> Andrew Clausen

OK, I'll admit I got a little confused and also explaining this is a
little confusing.  I am referring to the shell copy command "# cp", 
not the parted copy command.  (The original post does indeed state
this!)  When using a command such as "# cp -p -r /dir1 /dir2" the 
"-p" switch does not work, so all files copied end up belonging to 
root!  I see now (by typing "# cp --help") that the "-p" switch is 
not available!  (The "# mv" command does not preserve file 
attributes either.)

The reason not to use the parted cp command is because I wanted to
split the partition, not copy the whole thing.

No, this is not a bug in parted, but it is a limitation of the shell
used by the boot disk.  I guess I'm suggesting putting a more powerful
"cp" command in the shell of the boot disk in order to copy portions
of partitions when repartitioning a system.

Just some food for thought.  No need for any reply.

Ron