[Errno 18] Invalid cross-device link using os.rename

[Scott Whitney]

oldName=/backup/backups/data/WWW_httpd.conf_backups/20050204.httpd.conf

newName=/backup_old/data/WWW_httpd.conf_backups/20050204.httpd.conf

os.rename(oldName,newName) gives:

OSError: [Errno 18] Invalid cross-device link

mv from the shell works fine.

This is Python 2.2.3 from RedHat 9.0.

Any suggestions (other than os.system('mv %s %s')?)

 

[Fredrik Lundh]

os.rename(oldName,newName) gives:

OSError: [Errno 18] Invalid cross-device link

mv from the shell works fine.

This is Python 2.2.3 from RedHat 9.0.

Any suggestions (other than os.system('mv %s %s')?)

catch exception and copy if error == errno.EXDEV.

(this is what "mv" does, of course)

or use shutil.move:
Help on function move in module shutil:

move(src, dst)
Recursively move a file or directory to another location.

If the destination is on our current filesystem, then simply use
rename. Otherwise, copy src to the dst and then remove src.
A lot more could be done here... A look at a mv.c shows a lot of
the issues this implementation glosses over.

</F>

 

[Jeff Epler]

mv is a surprisingly complex program, while os.rename is a wrapper
around rename(2) which is probably documented on your system to return
EXDEV under these circumstanes.

os.xxx is generally a fairly thin wrapper around what your OS provides,
and inherits all the "gotchas". For some activities, os.shutil provides
something that is between os.xxx and os.system("xxx") in complexity and
capability.

Jeff

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[JustScott]

Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate the input. I just stuck with os.system('mv
%s %s'). Seems to work fine.