using scp for a backup

Lynn David Newton said:
>
> I'm trying to use scp -r across my local LAN to do a
> backup of the home directory on my Linux system (RH
> 8.0) to my iMac, which has plenty of storage space for
> it. (I'm sure using NFS would be a much better
> solution. Let's pretend for now it's not an option,
> because I want to solve this problem, not a different
> one.)
>
> The problem is that the directory I'm copying has some
> symbolic links in it to places both inside and outside
> and outside that directory tree, including many places
> in my public_html Web development directory where I
> have links like img -> ../img and img -> ../../img and
> img -> ../../../img and so forth.
>
> Does someone understand the problem this is, and know
> of a way out of it?

You are using the wrong tool for the job. Try rsync instead. I believe a
-l option will pickup symlinks. You would have to try man rsync to
verify.

-Derek