---
name: "gcp"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "gcp"
version: "0.2.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/gcp"
---

# gcp(1)

Advanced command-line file copier

## NAME

gcp - Advanced command-line file copier

## SYNOPSIS

**gcp** \[*OPTIONS*\] *FILE DEST*\
 **gcp** \[*OPTIONS*\] *FILE1* \[*FILE2*...*\]* *DEST-DIR*

## DESCRIPTION

**gcp** is a file copier, loosely inspired by cp, but with high level functionalities like:

- •

  transfer progression indication

- •

  continuous copying when there is an issue: it skips the problematic file and goes on

- •

  copy status logging: which files were effectively copied

- •

  name mangling to handle target filesystem limitations (e.g. removing incompatible chars like "?" or "\*" on FAT filesystems)

- •

  forced copy serialization: new files to copy are added to a global queue to avoid hard drive head seeks

- •

  transfer list management: gcp can save a list of files to copy and reuse it later

- •

  approximate option compatibility with cp (approximate because the behaviour is not exactly the same, see below)

## OPTIONS

These programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (\`-').

A summary of options is included below.

### General options

- **-h, --help**

  Show summary of options.

- **-V, --version**

  Show program version and copyright information and exit.

### cp-like options

- **-f, --force**

  Overwrite existing files.

- **-L, --dereference**

  Always follow symbolic links in sources.

- **-P, --no-dereference**

  Never follow symbolic links in sources.

- **-p**

  Same as **--preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps**

- **--preserve=\<*attributes*\>**

  Preserve specified attributes. Attributes can be *mode*, *ownership* and *timestamps*. When several attributes are passed, they need to be separated by commas. Please note that timestamps preservation has some limits, see section *LIMITATIONS*.

- **-r, -R, --recursive**

  Copy directories recursively.

- **-v, --verbose**

  Display what is being done.

### gcp-specific options

- **--fix-filenames=\<*force*\|*auto*\|*no*\>**

  gcp has the ability to modify the destination file name if the target file system would not accept the original file name. Offending characters will be replaced with similar-looking ones.

-

  This option accept the following values:

  - *auto* (default)

    gcp will attempt to be smart, i.e. detect incompatibilities and fix them as-needed.

  - *force*

    Always fix file names that could cause problems on any known filesystem or OS. This is useful e.g. with NTFS, see *NOTE ON NTFS* below.

  - *no*

    Renaming is disabled entirely.

-

  Currently, gcp is only aware of FAT incompatibilities: ´\\´, ´:´, ´\*´, ´?´, ´"´, ´\<´, ´\>´ and ´\|´.

- **--no-fs-fix (DEPRECATED)**

  Same as **--fix-filenames=no**. This option will be removed in a future release.

- **--no-progress**

  Disable progress bar.

### Sources saving

- **--sources-save=*SOURCES***

  Save the list of source files in a list named *SOURCES*.

- **--sources-replace=*SOURCES***

  Save the list of source files in a list named *SOURCES*; the file is overwritten it already exists.

- **--sources-load=*SOURCES***

  Use the list of source files named *SOURCES*.

- **--sources-del=*SOURCES***

  Delete the list of source files named *SOURCES*.

- **--sources-list**

  List the names of source file lists.

- **--sources-full-list**

  List the names of source file lists, including their content.

## EXIT STATUS

The exit status can be:

- •

  **0** if files have been copied correctly or if another instance of gcp is already running and will do the copy.

- •

  **1** if at least one file has not been copied, or if something went wrong.

- •

  **2** if all files have been copied but with some issues

## LIMITATIONS

Timestamps preservation with **--preserve** option is limited by the *os* Python module on POSIX systems. Currently, Python only returns timestamps in float format, which is a smaller precision than what POSIX provides. Progress on this issue can be seen at http://bugs.python.org/issue11457.

The **--preserve** option cannot currently be used without an attribute list (**gcp --preserve foo bar** will behave as **gcp --preserve=foo** **bar**). Use the **-p** switch instead.

## NOTE ON NTFS

NTFS will not enforce the same file name limitations than FAT, but files that would not be accepted on a FAT filesystem will still cause problems on Windows. Hence, it is recommended to use --fix-filenames=force when copying to NTFS (when Windows compatibility is desired, anyway).

## SEE ALSO

[**cp**(1)](/cp/1.md).\

## AUTHOR

gcp was written by Jérôme Poisson \<goffi@goffi.org\>. It is currently maintained by Matteo Cypriani \<mcy@lm7.fr\>.

This manual page was initially written by Thomas Preud'homme \<robotux@celest.fr\> for the Debian project (and may be used by others).