How do I copy directories and symlink files?

Question

I have got a directory of huge files (total ~ 1TB) and I don't want copy them around. However, I'd like to work around them, so it would be convenient to have them linked in a directory hierarchy I have access to (aka one I created). So

/path/to/dirs/
  foo
  bar
  baz/
    tri

Should be copied to

~/path/to/dirs/
  foo -> /path/to/dirs/foo
  bar -> /path/to/dirs/bar
  baz/
    tri -> /path/to/dirs/tri

Answer 1

With GNU:

cd ~/path/to/dirs || exit 1
find /path/to/dirs -type d -printf %P\\0 | xargs -0 mkdir -p 
find /path/to/dirs -type f -print0 | 
  xargs -0 cp --symbolic-link --parents --target-directory=.

Answer 2

With GNU coreutils (i.e. on non-embedded Linux or Cygwin):

cp -al /path/to/dirs ~/path/to/dirs

If your cp doesn't have the -l option, make a first pass to create the directory hierarchy, then a second pass for the symbolic links:

find /path/to/dirs -type d -exec sh -c 'for x do mkdir "$HOME$x"; done' _ {} +
find /path/to/dirs ! -type d -exec sh -c 'for x do ln -s "$x" "$HOME$x"; done' _ {} +

You can combine the two passes into a single command if you prefer:

find /path/to/dirs -exec sh -c '
  for x do
    if [ -d "$x" ]; then
      mkdir "$HOME$x"
    else
      ln -s "$x" "$HOME$x"
    fi
  done
' _ {} +

Answer 3

cp --no-dereference orig dest

This will preserve symlinks when copying. Here is the documentation:

 -P, --no-dereference         never follow symbolic links in SOURCE
 -p                           same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps