moving files with mv

----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig White" <craigwhite@azapple.com>
To: "PLUG newsgroup" <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 5:46 PM
Subject: moving files with mv


> I am about to move some very large folders from one directory to
> another. These files were created by Windows and have always been moved
> by Windows. In essence, I am going to move them from one samba share to
> another but it is merely moving them from one subdirectory to another
> within the same mount.
>
> I am gunshy on this because I know that I once lost some files by moving
> them with Linux cp (it may have been 'mv' but I think it was 'cp')
> because they were Macintosh files and they had some characters in the
> file names that would not normally be permitted. I don't want that to
> happen this time and I really can't afford to go there and move them
> with a Windows machine (would take a long time).
>
> If I use the command such as:
>
> mv DGN ../files-no-backup/ -R -p
>
> is it at all possible that these files may be lost because of a
> character within the file name that is legal on Windows isn't legal on
> Linux and thus, isn't copied? Is that just a Macintosh gotcha?
>
> Craig
>
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It can happen for either OS - I've seen 'Doze users name a file something
like:

My silly long file name (January report).doc
Contact info for Joseph "Joe" Smith.doc

In either case the parentheses or quotes can really screw with Linux. My
advice - use tar, not mv or cp:

cd /path/to/source
tar c * | taxf - -C /path/to/destination

This seems to handle it better, and keeps ownership straight.

--
Thomas Cameron, RHCE, CNE, MCSE, MCT
Cameron Technical Services, Inc.
http://www.camerontech.com/
(512) 454-3200