I'm trying to copy my .profile, .rvm and .ssh folders/files to a new computer and keep getting a "not a regular file" response. I know how to use the cp and ssh commands but I'm not sure how to use them in order to transfer files from one computer to another.
Any help would be great, thanks!
First zip or gzip the folders:
Use the following command:
zip -r NameYouWantForZipFile.zip foldertozip/
or
tar -pvczf BackUpDirectory.tar.gz /path/to/directory
for gzip compression use SCP:
scp [email protected]:~/serverpath/public_html ~/Desktop
You may also want to look at rsync if you're doing a lot of files.
If you're going to making a lot of changes and want to keep your directories and files in sync, you may want to use a version control system like Subversion or Git. See http://xoa.petdance.com/How_to:_Keep_your_home_directory_in_Subversion
Source: Stackoverflow.com