Copies a source folder to the destination via rsync -an and fixes *absolute* links. Normally rsync only handles *relative* symbolic. This script searches for absolute links with destinations that are within the source folder and updates them to reflect the destination copy.

abcopy

#!/bin/bash
#
# Copies a source folder to the destination folder via `rsync -a` and
# fixes *absolute* links. Normally rsync only handles *relative* links
# and preserves absolute links. This script searches for the copied
# absolute links in the destination that are pointing to the original
# source folder and updates them to reflect the new destination copy.
#
# Author: Stephen J. Carnam
# Copyright (c) 2023 Virtuosoft / Stephen J. Carnam
# License: MIT License
# 

# Check for the correct number of arguments
if [ "$#" -ne 2 ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <source folder> <destination folder>"
    exit 1
fi

source_dir="$1"
destination_dir="$2"

# Ensure source directory ends with a trailing slash
if [[ ! "$source_dir" == */ ]]; then
    source_dir="$source_dir/"
fi

# Ensure destination directory ends with a trailing slash
if [[ ! "$destination_dir" == */ ]]; then
    destination_dir="$destination_dir/"
fi

# Perform the initial copy using rsync
rsync -a "$source_dir" "$destination_dir"

# Find absolute symbolic links within the destination directory
absolute_links=()
while IFS= read -r -d '' link; do
    absolute_links+=("$link")
done < <(find "$destination_dir" -type l -lname '/*' -print0)

# Loop through the absolute links and update them if needed
for link in "${absolute_links[@]}"; do

    # Get the target of the symbolic link
    target=$(readlink -f "$link")

    # Check if the target contains the source directory path
    if [[ "$target" == *"$source_dir"* ]]; then

        # Replace the source directory path with the destination directory path
        new_target="${target//$source_dir/$destination_dir}"

        # Update the symbolic link to point to the new target
        rm "$link"
        ln -s "$new_target" "$link"
        echo "Updated: $link -> $new_target"
    fi
done

echo "Absolute symbolic links updated."