here's a wierd one. discovered the hard way, that specifying '.' as a destination directory for cpio, is dangerous. anyone know why this happens: chrome at steel:/var/tmp$ find usr/ -xdev usr/ usr/share usr/share/examples usr/share/examples/apm usr/share/examples/apm/script chrome at steel:/var/tmp$ mkdir test chrome at steel:/var/tmp$ find usr/ -xdev|cpio -padmuv test/ test//usr/ test//usr/share test//usr/share/examples test//usr/share/examples/apm test//usr/share/examples/apm/script 4 blocks chrome at steel:/var/tmp$ find test/ test/ test/usr test/usr/share test/usr/share/examples test/usr/share/examples/apm test/usr/share/examples/apm/script chrome at steel:/var/tmp$ find usr/ -xdev|cpio -padmuv . ./usr/ ./usr/share ./usr/share/examples ./usr/share/examples/apm cpio: usr/share/examples/apm/script: No such file or directory 0 blocks chrome at steel:/var/tmp$ find usr/ usr/ usr/share usr/share/examples usr/share/examples/apm cpio should *NOT* be deleting files! but it plainly does. :( as the example above shows, it copies things fine, if you specify a directory name; but if you spceify a '.'; it won't copy anything, and it'll delete the files it copies. :( is this a kernel bug, cpio bug, or just ignorance on my part? Carl Soderstrom -- Network Engineer Real-Time Enterprises (952) 943-8700