cp weirdness on /dev

[Joel Hammer]

I am trying to transfer large number of files between linux machines  using
samba and cp. 

The files I am trying to copy were created with cp -au originally on
machine A, where they now reside. They consist of the entire directory
and file structure of machine A minus a few things like /proc.

I am working from machine B, and mount the the machine A directory which holds
these file.  I use cp -au to copy the files from A to B. Most files seem to
go OK but:

When I hit the /dev directory on machine B, things get crazy.

Here is a sample of /dev on machine A:

drwxr-xr-x   6 root     root        12288 Sep  2 03:03 .
drwxr-xr-x  20 root     root         2048 May  4  2003 ..
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     games    107,   0 Feb 17  2000 3dfx
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     root      30,   3 Jul  8  2000 XOR
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     root      10, 175 Feb 17  2000 agpgart
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     root      10, 134 Feb 17  2000 apm_bios
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      63,   0 Feb 17  2000 arcd
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     root      30,  42 Jul  8  2000 arp
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     root      10,   3 Feb 17  2000 atibm
crw--w--w-   1 root     root      14,   4 Feb 17  2000 audio
crwxrwxrwx   1 root     root      14,  20 Feb 17  2000 audio1
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      29,   0 Feb 17  2000 aztcd
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      29,   0 Feb 17  2000 aztcd0
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            5 May  4  2003 bmouseatixl -> atibm
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            6 May  4  2003 bmouselogitec ->
logibm
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            8 May  4  2003 bmousems -> inportbm
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      41,   0 Feb 17  2000 bpcd
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      41,   0 Feb 17  2000 bpmcd
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            9 May  4  2003 cdrom -> /dev/scd0
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            6 May  4  2003 cdu31a -> sonycd
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      24,   0 Feb 17  2000 cdu535
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      30,   0 Feb 17  2000 cm205cd
brwxrwxrwx   1 root     disk      32,   0 Feb 17  2000 cm206cd
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root            4 May  4  2003 console -> tty0
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root           11 May  4  2003 core -> /proc/kcore

Here is what shows up in machine B:

total 337595
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          568 Nov 27 11:05 .
drwxr-xr-x    5 root     root          184 Nov 27 10:45 ..
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 3dfx
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 agpgart
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 apm_bios
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 arcd
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 atibm
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 audio
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 audio1
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 aztcd
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 aztcd0
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 bmouseatixl
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 bmouselogitec
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 bmousems
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 bpcd
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 bpmcd
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 cdu31a
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 cdu535
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 cm205cd
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Feb 17  2000 cm206cd
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Apr 26  2003 console
-r-xr-xr-x    1 root     root     345694208 Nov 27 10:59 core
 

Two bad things have happened. No device files have been copied over
properly, and the symbolic link to core was followed, which is not
supposed to happen with cp -au.

Any insight appreciated,


Joel