Re: Proposal for cp -a

[Thor Lancelot Simon <tls%panix.com@localhost>]

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 08:01:37AM +0200, Aleksey Cheusov wrote:
> > I propose to add option -a to cp(1).
> > FreeBSD (since about 7.1), Linux and some other platforms have it,
> > and I think it is very useful.
> 
> As Hubert noted me personally I need to explain what the purpose is.
> Idea is clear, -a is equivalent to -RpP. With -a option we can easily
> create an <A>rchive copy of src_dir directory by running the following
> command.

As you note, -P is the default.

Is there any reason to add this duplicative option other than "Linux did
it, and some FreeBSD developer was persuaded to go along"?