Package: fileutils Version: 3.12-2 -chiark:~/junk> rm -rf a b -chiark:~/junk> mkdir a -chiark:~/junk> ln -s foo a/bar -chiark:~/junk> ls -al a total 8 drwxrwsr-x 2 ian ian 1024 Nov 12 20:21 ./ drwxrwsr-x 27 ian ian 7168 Nov 12 20:21 ../ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ian ian 3 Nov 12 20:21 bar -> foo -chiark:~/junk> really chown daemon.staff a/bar -chiark:~/junk> ls -al a total 8 drwxrwsr-x 2 ian ian 1024 Nov 12 20:21 ./ drwxrwsr-x 27 ian ian 7168 Nov 12 20:21 ../ lrwxrwxrwx 1 daemon staff 3 Nov 12 20:21 bar -> foo -chiark:~/junk> ls -al b /bin/ls: b: No such file or directory -chiark:~/junk> cp -dpR a b -chiark:~/junk> ls -al b total 8 drwxrwsr-x 2 ian ian 1024 Nov 12 20:21 ./ drwxrwsr-x 28 ian ian 7168 Nov 12 20:22 ../ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ian ian 3 Nov 12 20:22 bar -> foo -chiark:~/junk>
The ownership on a symbolic link is relevant if it is in a sticky-bitted directory, and is settable using chown(). It should be preserved by `-p'. Ian.
