On Linux, how do I recursively copy files ignoring specific names?

Question

I need to recursively copy the directory tree, ignoring any subdirectories named "CVS". Is there an easy way to do this?

Answer 1

tar -cpf - --exclude=CVS directory | sh -c 'cd /wherever/it/goes && tar -xpf -' 

Change the right tar options to -xvpf if you want to see what happens.

Answer 2

 rsync -av --exclude=CVS <src> <dst> 

Answer 3

Why not approach it from a slightly different angle and check the files from CVS using the export command.

This will give you directories without any CVS artifacts.