How can I recursively copy a directory into another and replace only the files that have not changed?

Question

I am looking to do a specific copy in Fedora.

I have two folders:

• \'webroot\': holding ALL web files/images etc

• \'export\': folder cont

Answer 1

Sounds like a job for cpio (and hence, probably, GNU tar can do it too):

cd export
find . -print | cpio -pvdm /path/to/webroot

If you need owners preserved, you have to do it as root, of course. The -p option is 'pass mode', meaning copy between locations; -v is verbose (but not interactive; there's a difference); -d means create directories as necessary; -m means preserve modification time. By default, without the -u option, cpio won't overwrite files in the target area that are newer than the one from the source area.