A/UX: "cpio" Does Not Support Symbolic Link Backups (8/94)


I have a question about cpio. I'm trying to back up the Macintosh System Folder under A/UX and the following command will back up only the unique files in the folder. The main problem is that an symbolic links in that folder do not get backed up.

Here is the command I'm using from the Command Shell:

cd /mac/sys/"System Folder"
ls -a | cpio -ovF > /dev/rfloppy0

This command installs the unique files on two successive floppies, but ignores the others. How can I get these files to be recognized by the cpio command?

Symbolic links are analogous to aliases in the Macintosh OS. Neither the "cpio" nor "tar" commands under A/UX back up symbolic links. Rather, they copy only the symbolic names, not the actual data files.

In this case, you also need to copy the directories (/mac/lib/SystemFiles, for example) that contain the actual data files.


Article Change History:
25 Aug 1994 - Reviewed and updated.


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Published Date: Feb 18, 2012