---
name: "parallel-cp"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "s3ql"
version: "5.2.3+dfsg-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/parallel-cp"
---

# parallel-cp(1)

Recursive, parallel copy of directory trees

## NAME

pcp - Recursive, parallel copy of directory trees

## SYNOPSIS

```
pcp [options] <source> [<source> ...] <destination>
```

## DESCRIPTION

The **pcp** command is a is a wrapper that starts several **sync** processes to copy directory trees in parallel. This is allows much better copying performance on file system that have relatively high latency when retrieving individual files like S3QL.

**Note**: Using this program only improves performance when copying *from* an S3QL file system. When copying *to* an S3QL file system, using **pcp** is more likely to *decrease* performance.

## OPTIONS

The **pcp** command accepts the following options:

- **--log** *\<target\>*

  Destination for log messages. Specify **none** for standard output or **syslog** for the system logging daemon. Anything else will be interpreted as a file name. Log files will be rotated when they reach 1 MiB, and at most 5 old log files will be kept. Default: **None**

- **--quiet**

  be really quiet

- **--debug-modules** *\<modules\>*

  Activate debugging output from specified modules (use commas to separate multiple modules, 'all' for everything). Debug messages will be written to the target specified by the **--log** option.

- **--debug**

  Activate debugging output from all S3QL modules. Debug messages will be written to the target specified by the **--log** option.

- **--version**

  just print program version and exit

- **-a**

  Pass -aHAX option to rsync.

- **--processes** *\<no\>*

  Number of rsync processes to use (default: 10).

## EXIT CODES

**pcp** may terminate with the following exit codes:

- **0**

  Everything went well.

- **1**

  An unexpected error occurred. This may indicate a bug in the program.

- **2**

  Invalid command line argument or configuration file key.

## SEE ALSO

**pcp** is shipped as part of S3QL, *https://github.com/s3ql/s3ql/*.

## COPYRIGHT

© 2008 Nikolaus Rath \<Nikolaus@rath.org\>