'kubectl cp' command doesn't copy the target directory but its contents

Question

 kubectl cp namespace/podname:/path/target .

If I use the instructed command from kubernetes guide, it only copies the contents inside the target directory and omits target itself.
I don't want to use mkdir every time I need to copy.
What's the option?

`kubectl cp namespace/podname:/path/target ./target` how about this? — Phymo, Nov 30 '21 at 02:10

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 30 '21 at 02:16

9

Try kubectl cp namespace/podname:/path/target target. Note specify "./target" will receive a warning: "tar: removing leading '/' from member names". Also, ensure your image have tar command or kubectl cp can fail.

answered Nov 30 '21 at 02:16

gohm'c

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score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '22 at 09:03

I have a pod under default namespace called ubuntu-pod with a file located at root: /decomission.log and I got the same error:

$ kubectl cp default/ubuntu-pod:/decommission.log decommission.log
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names

The solution was to remove the slash and then I was able to copy the file with no message:

$ kubectl cp default/ubuntu-pod:decommission.log decommission.log
$ ls
decommission.log

'kubectl cp' command doesn't copy the target directory but its contents

2 Answers2

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