.nh
.TH podman-cp 1
.SH NAME
.PP
podman-cp - Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem

.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\fBpodman cp\fP [\fIoptions\fP] [\fIcontainer\fP:]\fIsrc_path\fP [\fIcontainer\fP:]\fIdest_path\fP

.PP
\fBpodman container cp\fP [\fIoptions\fP] [\fIcontainer\fP:]\fIsrc_path\fP [\fIcontainer\fP:]\fIdest_path\fP

.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
\fBpodman cp\fP allows copying the contents of \fBsrc_path\fP to the \fBdest_path\fP\&. Files can be copied from a container to the local machine and vice versa or between two containers.
If \fB-\fR is specified for either the \fBSRC_PATH\fR or \fBDEST_PATH\fR, one can also stream a tar archive from \fBSTDIN\fR or to \fBSTDOUT\fR\&.

.PP
The containers can be either running or stopped and the \fIsrc_path\fP or \fIdest_path\fP can be a file or directory.

.PP
*IMPORTANT: The \fBpodman cp\fP command assumes container paths are relative to the container's root directory (\fB/\fR), which means supplying the initial forward slash is optional and therefore sees \fBcompassionate_darwin:/tmp/foo/myfile.txt\fR and \fBcompassionate_darwin:tmp/foo/myfile.txt\fR as identical.*

.PP
Local machine paths can be an absolute or relative value.
The command interprets a local machine's relative paths as relative to the current working directory where \fBpodman cp\fP is run.

.PP
Assuming a path separator of \fB/\fR, a first argument of \fBsrc_path\fP and second argument of \fBdest_path\fP, the behavior is as follows:

.PP
\fBsrc_path\fP specifies a file:
  - \fBdest_path\fP does not exist
    - the file is saved to a file created at \fBdest_path\fP (note that parent directory must exist).
  - \fBdest_path\fP exists and is a file
    - the destination is overwritten with the source file's contents.
  - \fBdest_path\fP exists and is a directory
    - the file is copied into this directory using the base name from \fBsrc_path\fP\&.

.PP
\fBsrc_path\fP specifies a directory:
  - \fBdest_path\fP does not exist
    - \fBdest_path\fP is created as a directory and the contents of the source directory are copied into this directory.
  - \fBdest_path\fP exists and is a file
    - Error condition: cannot copy a directory to a file.
  - \fBdest_path\fP exists and is a directory
    - \fBsrc_path\fP ends with \fB/\fR
      - the source directory is copied into this directory.
    - \fBsrc_path\fP ends with \fB/.\fR (i.e., slash followed by dot)
      - the content of the source directory is copied into this directory.

.PP
The command requires \fBsrc_path\fP and \fBdest_path\fP to exist according to the above rules.

.PP
If \fBsrc_path\fP is local and is a symbolic link, the symbolic target, is copied by default.

.PP
A \fIcolon\fP ( : ) is used as a delimiter between a container and its path, it can also be used when specifying paths to a \fBsrc_path\fP or \fBdest_path\fP on a local machine, for example, \fBfile:name.txt\fR\&.

.PP
*IMPORTANT: while using a \fIcolon\fP ( : ) in a local machine path, one must be explicit with a relative or absolute path, for example: \fB/path/to/file:name.txt\fR or \fB\&./file:name.txt\fR*

.PP
Using \fB-\fR as the \fBsrc_path\fP streams the contents of \fBSTDIN\fR as a tar archive. The command extracts the content of the tar to the \fBDEST_PATH\fR in the container. In this case, \fBdest_path\fP must specify a directory. Using \fB-\fR as the \fBdest_path\fP streams the contents of the resource (can be a directory) as a tar archive to \fBSTDOUT\fR\&.

.PP
Note that \fBpodman cp\fR ignores permission errors when copying from a running rootless container.  The TTY devices inside a rootless container are owned by the host's root user and hence cannot be read inside the container's user namespace.

.PP
Further note that \fBpodman cp\fR does not support globbing (e.g., \fBcp dir/*.txt\fR).  To copy multiple files from the host to the container use xargs(1) or find(1) (or similar tools for chaining commands) in conjunction with \fBpodman cp\fR\&.  To copy multiple files from the container to the host, use \fBpodman mount CONTAINER\fR and operate on the returned mount point instead (see ALTERNATIVES below).

.SH OPTIONS
.SS \fB--archive\fP, \fB-a\fP
.PP
Archive mode (copy all UID/GID information).
When set to true, files copied to a container have changed ownership to the primary UID/GID of the container.
When set to false, maintain UID/GID from archive sources instead of changing them to the primary UID/GID of the destination container.
The default is \fBtrue\fP\&.

.SS \fB--overwrite\fP
.PP
Allow directories to be overwritten with non-directories and vice versa.  By default, \fBpodman cp\fR errors out when attempting to overwrite, for instance, a regular file with a directory.

.SH ALTERNATIVES
.PP
Podman has much stronger capabilities than just \fBpodman cp\fR to achieve copying files between the host and containers.

.PP
Using standard \fBpodman-mount(1)\fP and \fBpodman-unmount(1)\fP takes advantage of the entire linux tool chain, rather than just cp.

.PP
copying contents out of a container or into a container, can be achieved with a few simple commands. For example:

.PP
To copy the \fB/etc/foobar\fR directory out of a container and onto \fB/tmp\fR on the host, the following commands can be executed:

.EX
mnt=$(podman mount CONTAINERID)
cp -R ${mnt}/etc/foobar /tmp
podman umount CONTAINERID
.EE

.PP
To untar a tar ball into a container, following commands can be executed:

.EX
mnt=$(podman mount CONTAINERID)
tar xf content.tgz -C ${mnt}
podman umount CONTAINERID
.EE

.PP
To install a package into a container that
does not have dnf installed, following commands can be executed:

.EX
mnt=$(podman mount CONTAINERID)
dnf install --installroot=${mnt} httpd
chroot ${mnt} rm -rf /var/log/dnf /var/cache/dnf
podman umount CONTAINERID
.EE

.PP
By using \fBpodman mount\fR and \fBpodman unmount\fR, one can use all of the
standard linux tools for moving files into and out of containers, not just
the cp command.

.SH EXAMPLES
.RS
.IP \(bu 2
Copy a file from host to a container.
.EX
podman cp /myapp/app.conf containerID:/myapp/app.conf
.EE

.IP \(bu 2
Copy a file from a container to a directory on another container.
.EX
podman cp containerID1:/myfile.txt containerID2:/tmp
.EE

.IP \(bu 2
Copy a directory on a container to a directory on the host.
.EX
podman cp containerID:/myapp/ /myapp/
.EE

.IP \(bu 2
Copy the contents of a directory on a container to a directory on the host.
.EX
podman cp containerID:/home/myuser/. /home/myuser/
.EE

.IP \(bu 2
Copy a directory on a container into a directory on another.
.EX
podman cp containerA:/myapp containerB:/newapp
.EE

.IP \(bu 2
Stream a tar archive from \fBSTDIN\fR to a container.
.EX
podman cp - containerID:/myfiles.tar.gz < myfiles.tar.gz
.EE


.RE

.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
\fBpodman(1)\fP, \fBpodman-mount(1)\fP, \fBpodman-unmount(1)\fP