Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!samsung!aplcen!haven!adm!xadmx!JAZBO@brownvm.brown.edu From: JAZBO@brownvm.brown.edu (James H. Coombs) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: sparse files Message-ID: <21581@adm.BRL.MIL> Date: 30 Nov 89 06:33:28 GMT Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL Lines: 24 "Sparse files" have been mentioned in several recent postings. For example: >Kemp@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL writes: >>Just for the record, is there *any* way to do a recursive copy >>correctly? I.e. one that doesn't: >> * turn symbolic links into actual files >> * turn link loops into a series of infinitely nested copies >> * alter the modify and change times >> * choke on block and character special files >> * turn holes in sparse files into real disk blocks >I think afio will do this. I am not sure about the symlink >stuff, though, as we're a SYS V only site. Can someone explain exactly what a sparse file is? How does one get created? --Jim Dr. James H. Coombs Senior Software Engineer, Research Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) Brown University, Box 1946 Providence, RI 02912 jazbo@brownvm.bitnet Acknowledge-To: