1. Easy to use ftp mirroring package - simply usemirrordir ftp://some.where.com/dir /some/local/dir From Mandrake 9.0 RPM

2. duplicate a directory by making a minimal set of changes mirrordir forces the mirror directory to be an exact replica of the control directory tree in every possible detail suitable for purposes of timed backup. Files whose modification times or sizes differ are copied. File permissions, ownerships, modification times, access times, and sticky bits are duplicated. Devices, pipes, and symbolic and hard links are duplicated. Files or directories that exist in the mirror directory that don't exist in the control directory are deleted. It naturally descends into subdirectories to all their depths. mirrordir tries to be as efficient as possible by making the minimal set of changes necessary to mirror the directory. From Debian 3.0r0 APT