-# ok, that hopefully worked, so let's do a little more
-FILES=`find $SRC -type f | head -$COUNT`
-echo "copying files from $SRC to $DST$SRC"
-tar cf - $FILES | tar xvf - -C $DST || fail "copying $SRC" 11
+# let's start slowly here...
+START=$(date +%s)
+log "touching $DIR at $(date) (@$START)"
+touch $DIR || error "can't touch $DIR" 2
+HOSTS=$DIR/hosts.$$
+TRUNCSIZE=123
+
+if [ $COUNT -gt 10 -o $COUNT -eq 0 ]; then
+ # this will cause the following cp to trigger bug #620096
+ log "create an empty file $HOSTS"
+ mcreate $HOSTS
+ log "copying /etc/hosts to $HOSTS"
+ cp /etc/hosts $HOSTS || error "can't cp /etc/hosts to $HOSTS" 3
+ log "comparing /etc/hosts and $HOSTS"
+ diff -u /etc/hosts $HOSTS || error "$HOSTS different" 4
+ log "renaming $HOSTS to $HOSTS.ren"
+ mv $HOSTS $HOSTS.ren || error "can't rename $HOSTS to $HOSTS.ren" 5
+ log "copying /etc/hosts to $HOSTS again"
+ cp /etc/hosts $HOSTS || error "can't cp /etc/hosts to $HOSTS again" 6
+ log "truncating $HOSTS"
+ > $HOSTS || error "can't truncate $HOSTS" 8
+ log "removing $HOSTS"
+ rm $HOSTS || error "can't remove $HOSTS" 9
+ log "copying /etc/hosts to $HOSTS.2"
+ cp /etc/hosts $HOSTS.2 || error "can't cp /etc/hosts to $HOSTS.2" 7
+ log "truncating $HOSTS.2 to $TRUNCSIZE bytes"
+ $TRUNCATE $HOSTS.2 $TRUNCSIZE || error "can't truncate $HOSTS.2" 10
+ checkstat -s $TRUNCSIZE $HOSTS.2 ||
+ error "$HOSTS.2 isn't $TRUNCSIZE bytes" 11
+fi