cp -u error for identical source/destination files

[Lavrentiev, Anton (NIH/NLM/NCBI) [C]]

Hi,

Is it a bug or a feature that "cp -u" reports an error when a file is
being
copied over itself -- supposedly such a file is not subject for an
update (as it is not newer than the destination, which is itself),
so it would have seemed than cp should not care of such a file, but
it does still print an error (and obviously does nothing with this
file).
This happens in non-trivial cases as well, when within a single "cp -u"
command
a whole set of files is being copied over to a directory, and some of
source
files do in fact turn out to be already from that destination directory.
>From a mere "logic" point of view, "cp -u" should not complain about
such "same files",
as it would not be going to do anything with them, anyways (as it would
not
with any other non-identical files that happen to be dated same date or
newer).

Thanks,

Anton Lavrentiev
Contractor NIH/NLM/NCBI