<p>I'm a Linux guy and I'm used to copying directory trees with <code>cp -a</code>. OS X doesn't have <code>-a</code> option on <code>cp</code>... but it does have the <code>ditto</code> command. I'm reading the man on <code>ditto</code> now, but is there anything I should specifically be looking out for?</p>

As j04t pointed out that should be
```
cp -pR
```
On OS X, you would do
```
```
cp -dRL src target
```
```
cp preserves resources in newer version of OS X (was it 10.3 when that happened?)
Hey d is kinda like an upsidedown p, right ;)