On 17/11/16 00:44, Samuel Thibault wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Every year, my students are completely taken aback when trying to copy a
> directory:
> 
> $ cp /foo/bar .
> omitting directory /foo/bar
> 
> The problem is that the error message is not explicit at all about what
> issue cp actually encountered: "yes it is a directory, so what?!"
> 
> Could this be changed into for instance:
> 
> $ cp /foo/bar .
> not recursing into directory /foo/bar by default
> 
> which will help them figure out they just need to use -r.

I agree, though we have to be careful not to imply
we copy the directory but not the contents.
I'll adjust to:

  "not recursing; omitting directory '/foo/bar'"

thanks,
Pádraig



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