[GRASS-user] g.copy Question

[Hamish]

Michael:
> A suggestion: using the GUI helps avoid syntax errors while
> you're getting used to the new system.

another way of saying that is that grass's manipulation code is
fully self-sufficient and you should never have to resort to
filesystem hacks in order to get the job done. sometimes a
symlink here or there might save some time, but if you do any-
thing at the file system level you do so at your own risk.
typically it isn't needed, even for power users.

> Commands are printed to the console and at the bottom of each
> command dialog so that you can see them, and copy/paste them.

this is very good advice.

Rich wrote:
>   What I currently have is /usr4/grassbase/Oregon/dem/
> which contains,
> 
> VAR  WIND  cats/  cell/  cell_misc/  cellhd/  dbf/  hist/
> 
> and I want to move that directory across to
> /usr4/grassbase/Oregon/PERMANENT
> where it will reside at its full extent.

If you can guarantee that the projections (PROJ_INFO file) are
identical between the 2 locations (all feet vs meters coord
system units issues solved..), my suggestion would be to copy
or symlink in your dem mapset to the new location as its own
mapset, then start grass in the PERMANENT mapset and copy over
maps into it with g.copy rather that to merge it by hand. if
nothing else it's simply a matter of it being less work that
way.

beware that the vector/$MAP/dbln and VAR files may have hard-
coded paths in them. if you are still using basic dbf as the
backend database driver these will probably be relative
variables so no prob. or adjustment needed.


* g.copy to copy from other mapsets in the same location,
* {r|v}.proj to copy from locations with projection info,
* i.rectify to export from a non-georeferenced XY location.


> I could not find several commands there (perhaps they are
> menu item names different from what I expect to see)

try the module synopsis PDF. it's linked from the homepage
news section. I've been meaning to get the menu position info
inserted just before the DESCRIPTION section of the man pages,
but my Makefile-voodoo is rather weak so it hasn't happened
yet. (but all the pieces to do that are pretty much in place)

> or I could not see how to add necessary options.

specific suggestions for help page improvements are always
welcome once you figure it out.

> It's not just GRASS. I much prefer to do my writing in LaTeX
> than a word processor (although I do use LyX a lot), create
> graphics writing PSTricks more than using xfig, and use emacs
> for all my coding. Anachronistic, I know, but that's how I
> prefer to work. ;-)

you'll do well here.



ho ho ho
Hamish