copy ftp: with /w problem

[kafka]

I seem to have discovered a problem with the copy /w switch when the source is an ftp: path. I am trying to synchronize a local copy of a directory structure from a Western Digital NAS (ShareSpace model WDA4NC2000). Up until version 11 came out I used a command like:
copy ftp:/MSCR Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR /u/s/ne
This worked fine (and still does with version 11) except it doesn't delete any files in the local copy (Y:) that no long exist on the NAS. When version 11 came out I added the /w switch, like:
copy ftp:/MSCR Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR /u/w/s/ne
This command now deletes any local files (Y:) that were deleted on the NAS which is what I expected.

The problem is that the copy command initially deletes all of the files in the Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR directory and then copies all of the files in the ftp:/MSCR directory to the Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR directory. It also does this from some of the sub-directories (but not all of them).

If I remove the /w switch from the copy command, only the changed files will be copied, which most of the time is none of the files. I also discovered while trying to understand the problem, if I perform a "cd ftp:/MSCR" before performing the copy command, it works correctly (i.e. only coping changed files and deleting missing files).

The other issue is that the /w switch seems to cause the copy command to take about three times longer to execute when there are no changes (total of 1200 files in 494 directories).

 

[Steve Fabian]

kafka wrote:
| copy ftp:/MSCR Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR /u/s/ne

Unfortunately that's incorrect syntax - options that apply to all parameters
are supposed to be before the first parameter (the source file or directory
for COPY) is specified. I am not sure if any other command besides COPY
deals with options (other than /A and /B for COPY) which apply only to
parameters that follow the option, but not to all parameters. The TCC parser
is almost, but not quite DWIM, so it usually accepts incorrect order of
command elements, but not always. BTW, is your COPY command actually an
alias?

Sorry, but I have not had a chance to investigate the problem itself you
reported.
--
Steve

 

[rconn]

> I seem to have discovered a problem with the copy /w switch when the
> source is an ftp: path. I am trying to synchronize a local copy of a
> directory structure from a Western Digital NAS (ShareSpace model
> WDA4NC2000). Up until version 11 came out I used a command like:
> copy ftp:/MSCR Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR /u/s/ne
> This worked fine (and still does with version 11) except it doesn't
> delete any files in the local copy (Y:) that no long exist on the NAS.
> When version 11 came out I added the /w switch, like:
> copy ftp:/MSCR Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR /u/w/s/ne
> This command now deletes any local files (Y:) that were deleted on the
> NAS which is what I expected.
>
> The problem is that the copy command initially deletes all of the files
> in the Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR directory and then copies all of the files
> in the ftp:/MSCR directory to the Y:\MSCR\Current\MSCR directory. It
> also does this from some of the sub-directories (but not all of them).

WAD. /W is *not* an add-on to /U, and is not intended for updating, just
(occasional) syncing.

Before it does a copy, it will first search the target directory, and for
every file it will search the source directory for a match. If it doesn't
find one, it will delete the file in the target directory.

> The other issue is that the /w switch seems to cause the copy command
> to take about three times longer to execute when there are no changes
> (total of 1200 files in 494 directories).

See above.

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[kafka]

I expect and want it to delete files from the target that don't exist on the source. The help does not indicate that /u and /w are exclusive, nor do their descriptions conflict. I want to "Copy each source file only if it is newer than a matching destination file or if a matching destination file does not exist" and to "Delete files in the target directory that don't exist in the source directory". In other words, I want C:/XYZZY to be a mirror of ftp:/XYZZY.

If you execute the following three commands, what should the second and third commands do?

copy ftp:/XYZZY C:\XYZZY
copy /u ftp:/XYZZY C:\XYZZY
copy /u/w ftp:/XYZZY C:\XYZZY

I would expect the second and third commands to only compare file information and not actually modify the target. I expect both the second and third commands to do the same thing (assuming nothing has changed in either the source or the target).

What I am seeing the third command do depends upon what the current directory of the source (ftp:) is.

If the current directory of the source is (ftp:/), the third command deletes all of the files in the target (C:/XYZZY) and then copies all of the files from the source to the target.

If the current directory of the source is (ftp:/XYZZY), the third command works identically to the second command (except for taking longer to execute).

This is the first time I can remember a command depending upon what the current directory is of a source when using an absolute path for the source.

WAD. /W is *not* an add-on to /U, and is not intended for updating, just
(occasional) syncing.

Before it does a copy, it will first search the target directory, and for
every file it will search the source directory for a match. If it doesn't
find one, it will delete the file in the target directory.




See above.

Rex Conn
JP Software

 

[rconn]

> If you execute the following three commands, what should the second and
> third commands do?
>
> copy ftp:/XYZZY C:\XYZZY
> copy /u ftp:/XYZZY C:\XYZZY
> copy /u/w ftp:/XYZZY C:\XYZZY
>
> I would expect the second and third commands to only compare file
> information and not actually modify the target. I expect both the
> second and third commands to do the same thing (assuming nothing has
> changed in either the source or the target).
>
> What I am seeing the third command do depends upon what the current
> directory of the source (ftp:) is.
>
> If the current directory of the source is (ftp:/), the third command
> deletes all of the files in the target (C:/XYZZY) and then copies all
> of the files from the source to the target.
>
> If the current directory of the source is (ftp:/XYZZY), the third
> command works identically to the second command (except for taking
> longer to execute).
>
> This is the first time I can remember a command depending upon what the
> current directory is of a source when using an absolute path for the
> source.

Not reproducible here. COPY (and TCC) don't care about the current
directory of the source.

The only thing I can think of is that your FTP server is refusing to return
the file info when in the root. (Do you actually have root access? Do you
mean the *real* root, or the default home directory?) TCC queries the
server to see if the file exists on the server; if the server says "no",
then the local copy gets deleted.

Rex Conn
JP Software