[Users] Running CM on a new box

[Dustin Miller]

On Sat, 9 Apr 2022 11:17:18 -0400
Gil Weber <gilweber at gmail.com> wrote:

> > > > ... If you have POP accounts, you also need to copy your
> > > > mailbox, default location ~/Mail. BE sure to preserve
> > > > timestamps when copying, ...
> > > >
> > > > Paul  
> > >
> > > Forgive me, Paul. How do I preserve the timestamps for
> > > .claws_cache and .claws-mark?  Thanks.  :o)
> > >  
> > Hi Gil,
> > 
> > See
> > 
> > $ man cp
> > 
> > for all the options
> > 
> > and
> > 
> > $ man man
> > 
> > if you're not familiar with the man command
> > 
> > Bob Williams
> 
> Bob, thanks for the reply. I looked at both in the terminal but
> don't see anything on how to preserve the timestamps. Am I 
> looking for an answer that is there but not expressed as
> "time stamps?" 
> 
> If yes, what should I be looking for in 'man cp' and then
> how do I use that to preserve the time stamps?
> 
DM: Gil, here's the command that Paul posted to this list on April 6:

cp -pr Mail Mail.pfortin

DM: In order to understand this command, you'll need to read through
the output of the commands 'man cp' or 'info cp', which both give
information about how the 'cp' command works. Here is my 'understanding'
(which may or may not be correct) of the above command: The 'cp' is the
part that runs the copy program called 'cp'. The '-pr' is a list of two
options that modify what the 'cp' program does -- one is 'p' and the
other is 'r'. From Paul's post, it sounds like the 'p' option is what
preserves the time-stamps. Looking through the output of 'info cp'
tells me that the 'r' option tells the copy program to copy recursively
(i.e. all the folders, subfolders, and their files, etc.). The 'Mail'
in the above command represents whatever the source is that you're
copying, and the 'Mail.pfortin' represents whatever the destination is
that you're copying to. This type of syntax is pretty common for
terminal commands, so it is likely worth your time to start learning
it, which can be done with the documentation related commands that Bob
and I mentioned to you ('man cp' provides the manual for the copy
command, and 'info cp' provides some of the same or similar
information). When you type either of these, one of the first things
you are shown is the syntax of how the command works and then listed
below that are the various options that can be used and sometimes
samples for particular use cases. HTH, ---Dustin
> 
> I am a novice (at best) when it comes to the command line and
> interpreting and knowing what to do with either  'man cp' or 'man
> man'.
> 
> Thank you.
> Gil