What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem?

wenD has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by ikegami (Patriarch) on Nov 29, 2006 at 18:03 UTC
File::Copy can rename directories, but it can't copy them, so it can't be used to move one to another filesystem. It's probably simpler to use `system` to execute a tool provided by your OS. By the way, no need to put your variables in double quotes. Update: How about: `my $cp_rv = system('cp', '-rp', $src, $dst); if ($cp_rv) { if ($cp_rv == -1) { die("Unable to launch 'cp': $!\n"); } else { system('rm', '-rf', $dst); die("Unable to copy \"$src\" directory. \"cp\" returned $?\n"); } } system('rm', '-rf', $src);` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by derby (Abbot) on Nov 29, 2006 at 18:24 UTC
You don't give any platform specs but I would imagine the underlying guts of File::Copy do not support directory moving for your platform. Looking at the docs, it appears to only support file to file and file to directory moving. There's nothing magical about File::Copy - you could always just single step through the debugger to catch where you're failing. -derby	[reply]
Re^2: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by wenD (Beadle) on Nov 29, 2006 at 19:28 UTC
Thanks for your replies. A few more details I should have included... The platform is Linux. Permissions are okay. I can get File::Copy to move a directory from one place to another as long as it's on the same filesystem. `---------------------------- use File::Copy; my $source_dir = '/home/my/this_dir'; my $destination_dir = '/usr/local/elsewhere/this_dir'; # This works fine. move($source_dir, $destination_dir); ----------------------------` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by johngg (Canon) on Nov 29, 2006 at 23:01 UTC
In your OP the destination path is `/nfsmount/elsewhere/this_dir` implying that the filesystem id from a remote server. Have you checked whether the filesystem has been shared on that server as read-only. I know this can throw a spanner in the works under Solaris. Just a thought, JohnGG	[reply] [d/l]
Re: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Nov 29, 2006 at 21:47 UTC
Is File::Copy the wrong thing to use for this? Or am I just doing something wrong? Ah Dear Esteemed Monk, If you'd have added a bit of code such as: `#!/usr/bin/perl use File::Copy; move('foobar','/mnt/peter/tmp/')or die $!;` [download] You would have recieved a great big hint: `Is a directory at foo.pl line 4.` [download] Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by derby (Abbot) on Nov 30, 2006 at 14:57 UTC
Uhh ... doesn't the OP do the same thing (he even noted the error message in a comment). -derby	[reply]
Re^3: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Nov 30, 2006 at 16:23 UTC
doesn't the OP do the same thing Senility must be setting in for me. I somehow missed that. At any rate, I experimented around with this and found that it just plain won't work. Not sure why, but it won't work. If I were to attempt to do what the OP were doing I'd probably use some form of File::Find foo and remove the original afterwards. Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg	[reply]
Re: What is the best way to move a directory to a mounted filesystem? by Fengor (Pilgrim) on Nov 29, 2006 at 18:17 UTC
I assume write priviliges for the directory are given? -- "WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR IF NOT THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN" -- Terry Pratchett, "Reaper Man"	[reply]