NAME

       gcp - Advanced command-line file copier

SYNOPSIS

       gcp [OPTIONS] FILE DEST
       gcp [OPTIONS] FILE1 [FILE2...] DEST-DIR

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page documents briefly the gcp command.

       gcp is a file copier, loosely inspired by cp, but with high level functionalities like:
        - transfer progression indication
        - continuous copying when there is an issue: it skips the problematic file and goes on
        - copy status logging: which files were effectively copied
        - name mangling to handle target filesystem limitations (e.g. removing incompatible chars
       like "?" or "*" on VFAT)
        - forced copy serialization: new files to copy are added to a global queue to avoid  hard
       drive head seeks
        - transfer list management: gcp can save a list of files to copy and reuse it later
        -  approximate  option  compatibility  with  cp (approximate because the behaviour is not
       exactly the same, see below)

OPTIONS

       These programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options  starting  with
       two   dashes   (`-').    By   default,   calling   gcp   is   equivalent  to  calling  gcp
       --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps.

       A summary of options is included below.

   General options
       --version
              Show version of program and exit.

       -h, --help
              Show summary of options.

       -r, --recursive
              Copy directories recursively.

       -L, --dereference
              always follow symbolic links in sources

       -P, --no-dereference
              never follow symbolic links in sources

       -f, --force
              Overwrite existing files.

       --preserve=PRESERVE
              Keep specified attributes. Attributes can be mode, ownership and timestamps.   When
              several  attributes  are  passed,  they  need  to be separated by commas. Note that
              timestamps preservation has some limits, see section LIMITS.

       --no-fs-fix
              Don't fix file system naming incompatibilities.

       --no-progress
              Disable progress bar.

       -v, --verbose
              Display what is being done.

   Sources saving
       --sources-save=SOURCES_SAVE
              Save the list of source files in a list named SOURCES_SAVE.

       --sources-replace=SOURCES_REPLACE
              Save the list of source files in a list named SOURCES_REPLACE and replace it if  it
              already exists.

       --sources-load=SOURCES_LOAD
              Reuse the list of source file named SOURCES_LOAD.

       --sources-del=SOURCES_DEL
              Delete the list of source files named SOURCES_DEL.

       --sources-list
              List the names of source file lists.

       --sources-full-list
              List the names of source file lists, including their content.

EXIT STATUS

       The exit status can be:

       • 0  if  files have been copied correctly or if another instance of gcp is already running
         and will do the copy.

       • 1 if at least one file has not been copied, or if something went wrong.

       • 2 if all files have been copied but with some issues

LIMITS

       Timestamps preservation with --preserve option is limited by the os python module on POSIX
       systems.  Currently,  python  only  returns timestamps in float format, which is a smaller
       precision  than  what  POSIX  provides.  Progress  on  this   issue   can   be   seen   at
       http://bugs.python.org/issue11457.

SEE ALSO

       cp(1).

AUTHOR

       gcp was written by Jérôme Poisson <goffi@goffi.org>.

       This  manual  page  was  written by Thomas Preud'homme <robotux@celest.fr>, for the Debian
       project (and may be used by others).

                                          June 04, 2011                                    GCP(1)