rsync-like behaviour for trailing /

[lucuma13]

The command ocopy source destination copies the directory source into the destination (or destinations) as expected.

However, the command ocopy source/ destination behaves exactly the same. Many users like me would expect rsync-like behaviour, so that the command copies the "contents" of source into the destination (but not the parent directory source itself).

[cbenhagen]

That was a deliberate choice at the time as the rsync behaviour can be tricky to understand for many. Also this makes it easier to make a mess on your backup destinations. Can you come up with a convincing use case for this feature? And if yes, maybe a better syntax?

[lucuma13]

Hey Ben! I understand the desire to prevent accidental data dumps in the destination. However, I feel that the current syntax introduces the same friction and ambiguity for the user. Here is the case for implementing rsync-style trailing slash logic:

1. rsync is the de facto standard for all IT people as it comes preinstalled in macOS, Linux (servers) and it's compatible with Windows. I know many media managers and DITs (like myself) that use it on a daily basis for workflows when mhls or reports are not required (e.g. copying proxies into a transport drive). The main selling point for those users moving to ocopy would be its multi-destination strengths, but they would expect standard semantics.

2. Other equally standard tools designed for smaller transfers (cp -r) or bigger transfers (fpsync) behave exactly the same way: trailing slash has always meant contents in CLI utilities.

3. A trailing slash is always intentional. Basic drag-and-drop of a folder into a Terminal produces a path without a trailing slash, same with Cmd+Opt+C, or Shift+Right Click and "Copy [...] as pathname" - they all produce a filepath without trailing slashes. So it's safe to assume that when a trailing slash is found it was a deliberate manual keystroke to target the contents.

4. Currently, if I want to merge the contents of Folder_A into an existing Project_B on multiple drives, ocopy forces me to operate from the parent directory level. This is cumbersome when paths are deep or when the source and destination folder names don't match. And being a new tool, if it doesn't behave like other standard utilities at a syntax level, the user doesn't know what to expect and it creates confusion (is it going to merge the contents? is it gonna overwrite them?).