sarthurs1 | # 1 | 2008-12-01, 20:01 | Report

I was reading about problems with the new Garnet Vm release and it was suggested that I backup my .gvm file before updating. Well I have root access and I found the file and I created a backup directory called .gvmbackup and I typed in cp /home/user/.gvm /home/user/.gvmbackup and I got a response of: "cp: omitting directory '.gvm' so I don't think it copied .gvm to .gvm backup as I wanted. Could someone explain what I did wrong?
Thanks

gowen | # 2 | 2008-12-01, 21:06 | Report

you need to use cp -r to recurse into the directory.

The alternative backup method is to use tar:

tar zcvf gvmbackup.tar.gz .gvm

and then to extract it

tar zxvf gvmbackup.tar.gz

m_stolle | # 3 | 2008-12-01, 21:06 | Report

try "cp -a" instead of "cp":

cp -a /home/user/.gvm /home/user/.gvmbackup

Martin

sarthurs1 | # 4 | 2008-12-01, 21:35 | Report

Thanks a lot to both of you. The goodwill in these forums is amazing to me.
cheers

Machster | # 5 | 2008-12-02, 04:12 | Report

Or you can install the excellent file manager emelFM2 and press the copy button to the directory of your choice.