Equivalence to cp -Ru : update

[Thomas Mueller]

On Fri, 6 Dec 2013 19:56:18 +0100, Daniel Patón wrote:
> In Linux I used the following command in bash on an external USB disk:

> cp -Ru * /media/BACKUP

> Now in FreeBSD with csh the command cp is a little different.

I asked about the same question some months ago, having used cp -Rpu in Linux (p preserves permissions).

Best answer I got then was rsync.

I see Polytropon's suggestion, cpdup, is much smaller.

I find cpdup in FreeBSD ports but not NetBSD pkgsrc.

I just found a reason why rsync might be preferable, just in the past few hours, 
from Bruce Hill on one Gentoo Linux emailing list (gentoo-user at lists.gentoo.org):

   There are reasons why rsync is better than cp. The best one IMO is that rysnc
   will not copy a corrupt file, while cp will. And rsync will tell you about the
   corrupt file.

   You have so many questions about rsync, and different opinions thrown at you.
   Why do you not read "man rsync" and learn about it? This man page is thorough,
   easy to read, and explains it's usage by examples.


Tom