From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 20024 invoked from network); 29 Dec 2021 15:02:42 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 29 Dec 2021 15:02:42 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C3A769CFF5; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 01:02:40 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CA3719CEFC; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 01:02:15 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id ED48D9CEF3; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 01:02:12 +1000 (AEST) Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id F2C4C9CEA9 for ; Thu, 30 Dec 2021 01:02:11 +1000 (AEST) X-Envelope-From: arnold@skeeve.com Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id 1BTF29Ix024815 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 29 Dec 2021 08:02:10 -0700 Received: (from arnold@localhost) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) id 1BTF2926024814; Wed, 29 Dec 2021 08:02:09 -0700 From: arnold@skeeve.com Message-Id: <202112291502.1BTF2926024814@freefriends.org> X-Authentication-Warning: frenzy.freefriends.org: arnold set sender to arnold@skeeve.com using -f Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2021 08:02:09 -0700 To: will.senn@gmail.com, tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org References: <529fceae-2493-e9b1-c949-928e95e430e1@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <529fceae-2493-e9b1-c949-928e95e430e1@gmail.com> User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Subject: Re: [TUHS] moving directories in svr2 X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" System V of that era didn't allow moving directories. You can copy them recursively with find and cpio with the option that makes hard links and then remove the old directory, or use a standard tar pipeline to copy the directory tree. BSD has always allowed moving directories; I *think* that descends from Research Unix but I don't remember for sure. HTH, Arnold Will Senn wrote: > I'm a little flummoxed in trying to move some directories around in > svr2. Shouldn't the following work? > >     mkdir a >     mkdir b >     mv a b > > I get the following error: > mv: b exists > > I tried many of the possible variants including: > > mv a b/ > mv: b/ exists > mv a b/a > mv: directory rename only > cd b > mv ../a . > mv: . exists > mv ../a ./ > mv: ./ exists > mv ../a ./a > mv: directory rename only > > > If moving directories into existing directories wasn't allowed in those > days, 1) how were directories managed? and 2) when did moving > directories into directories become a thing? >