cp --target-dir=dir + shell expansion?

[Chris Green]

cp (coreutils) 5.0 ( shipped with Mandrake 9.1 )

mkdir a
ln -s a b
cp --target-dir=b file1

works fine

find . -name sregex.el -o -name rx.el | xargs cp --target-directory=~/elisp
cp: `~/elisp': specified target is not a directory
Try `cp --help' for more information.

Shell is either bash or zsh

where ~/elisp is a symlink -> src/homedir/elisp

I'm not sure what the right behavior is for this situation.... 

1) Should the error string include an explicit ./ to tell the user
that globbing isn't happening?  

2) Should the = parameter do ~ expansion?  If so, how would one treat
files that really are ~....   maybe only do it on the first character
of the string and requre ./~ for files that are really named that.

3) Should the shells expand =~ into a the right string ( doesn't sound
like a good idea for removing .backup=~ )  -- sounds dangerous

4) What there is now... and slap a warning in info/man pages

I understand this after thinking about it for a few minutes but I
don't find my command is that far out of whack with what
--target-directory is supposed to accomplish

Thanks,
Chris
-- 
Chris Green <address@hidden>
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