symlink-copying a directory hierarchy

Question

What\'s the simplest way on Linux to \"copy\" a directory hierarchy so that a new hierarchy of directories are created while all \"files\" are just symlinks pointing back to

Answer 1

If you feel like getting your hands dirty Here is a trick that will automatically create the destination folder, subfolders and symlink all files recursively.

In the folder where the files you want to symlink and sub folders are:

1. create a file shell.sh:

   nano shell.sh

2. copy and paste this charmer:

#!/bin/bash

export DESTINATION=/your/destination/folder/
export TARGET=/your/target/folder/

find . -type d -print0 | xargs -0 bash -c 'for DIR in "$@"; 
do
  echo "${DESTINATION}${DIR}"
  mkdir -p "${DESTINATION}${DIR}"        
  done' -


find . -type f -print0 |  xargs -0 bash -c 'for file in "$@"; 
do
  ln -s  "${TARGET}${file}"  "${DESTINATION}${file}"
   done' -

1. save the file ctrl+O
2. close the file ctrl+X

3. Make your script executable chmod 777 shell.sh

4. Run your script ./shell.sh

Happy hacking!