I have been struggling with a very strong issue after upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), and finally found out this is from a low level error from ubuntu - the root cause is because cp command with the switch of -a when copy a folder doesn't work as expected of "-dR --preserve=all" from cp --help.
#cp --help
...
Under Ubuntu 11.04, when copy folders, all the attributes will be preserved with the --preserve option, but with Ubuntu 11.10, some attributes will be lost.
Here is a simple test procedure.
Note: e-xiao is below to administrator group.
1. Create a folder say test
#mkdir test
#ls -all
drwxr-xr-x 2 e-xiao e-xiao 4096 2011-12-08 23:14 test
2. Trying to cp it with -a.
#cp -a test test1
Under Ubuntu 11.10,
#ls -all
drwx------ 2 e-xiao e-xiao 4096 2011-12-08 23:14 test1
#cp --help
...
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
-a, --archive same as -dR --preserve=all
--backup[=CONTROL] make a backup of each existing destination file
...Under Ubuntu 11.04, when copy folders, all the attributes will be preserved with the --preserve option, but with Ubuntu 11.10, some attributes will be lost.
Here is a simple test procedure.
Note: e-xiao is below to administrator group.
1. Create a folder say test
#mkdir test
#ls -all
drwxr-xr-x 2 e-xiao e-xiao 4096 2011-12-08 23:14 test
2. Trying to cp it with -a.
#cp -a test test1
Under Ubuntu 11.10,
#ls -all
drwx------ 2 e-xiao e-xiao 4096 2011-12-08 23:14 test1
Yes, with the --preserve=all option, you are still losing all attributes not owned by owner.
Not sure if this is from any policy changes from ubuntu, I tried to google the web, but yet found any useful information so far :(
[Workaround]
1. Use "--backup -R" options
2. Use "-dR" only without "--preserve" option
