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(cp invocation): Improve description of cp's --sparse=WHEN option.

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Jim Meyering
2004-03-10 09:51:26 +00:00
parent ae6f132503
commit ebbbe4553a
1 changed files with 13 additions and 5 deletions
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doc/coreutils.texi
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@@ -6348,17 +6348,25 @@ reads these as zeroes. This can both save considerable disk space and
increase speed, since many binary files contain lots of consecutive zero
bytes. By default, @command{cp} detects holes in input source files via a crude
heuristic and makes the corresponding output file sparse as well.
Only regular files may be sparse.
The @var{when} value can be one of the following:
@table @samp
@item auto
The default behavior: the output file is sparse if the input file is sparse.
The default behavior: if the input file is sparse, attempt to make
the output file sparse, too. However, if an output file exists but
refers to a non-regular file, then do not attempt to make it sparse.
@item always
Always make the output file sparse. This is useful when the input
file resides on a filesystem that does not support sparse files (the
most notable example is @samp{efs} filesystems in SGI IRIX 5.3 and
earlier), but the output file is on another type of filesystem.
For each sufficiently long sequence of zero bytes in the input file,
attempt to create a corresponding hole in the output file, even if the
input file does not appear to be sparse.
This is useful when the input file resides on a filesystem
that does not support sparse files
(for example, @samp{efs} filesystems in SGI IRIX 5.3 and earlier),
but the output file is on a type of filesystem that does support them.
Holes may be created only in regular files, so if the destination file
is of some other type, @command{cp} does not even try to make it sparse.
@item never
Never make the output file sparse.