\#FIXME: Need examples
-\C{pscp} Using PSCP to transfer files securely
+\C{pscp} Using \i{PSCP} to transfer files securely
-\i{PSCP}, the PuTTY Secure Copy client, is a tool for transferring files
+\i{PSCP}, the PuTTY Secure Copy client, is a tool for \i{transferring files}
securely between computers using an SSH connection.
-If you have an SSH 2 server, you might prefer PSFTP (see \k{psftp})
-for interactive use. PSFTP does not in general work with SSH 1
+If you have an SSH-2 server, you might prefer PSFTP (see \k{psftp})
+for interactive use. PSFTP does not in general work with SSH-1
servers, however.
\H{pscp-starting} Starting PSCP
PSCP is a command line application. This means that you cannot just
double-click on its icon to run it and instead you have to bring up a
\i{console window}. With Windows 95, 98, and ME, this is called an
-\q{MS-DOS Prompt} and with Windows NT and 2000 it is called a
+\q{MS-DOS Prompt} and with Windows NT, 2000, and XP, it is called a
\q{Command Prompt}. It should be available from the Programs section
-of your Start Menu.
+of your \i{Start Menu}.
To start PSCP it will need either to be on your \i{\c{PATH}} or in your
current directory. To add the directory containing PSCP to your
\c set PATH=C:\path\to\putty\directory;%PATH%
This will only work for the lifetime of that particular console
-window. To set your \c{PATH} more permanently on Windows NT, use the
-Environment tab of the System Control Panel. On Windows 95, 98, and
-ME, you will need to edit your \c{AUTOEXEC.BAT} to include a \c{set}
-command like the one above.
+window. To set your \c{PATH} more permanently on Windows NT, 2000,
+and XP, use the Environment tab of the System Control Panel. On
+Windows 95, 98, and ME, you will need to edit your \i\c{AUTOEXEC.BAT}
+to include a \c{set} command like the one above.
\H{pscp-usage} PSCP Usage
\c Z:\owendadmin>pscp
\c PuTTY Secure Copy client
-\c Release 0.XX
+\c Release 0.63
\c Usage: pscp [options] [user@]host:source target
\c pscp [options] source [source...] [user@]host:target
\c pscp [options] -ls [user@]host:filespec
\c Options:
+\c -V print version information and exit
+\c -pgpfp print PGP key fingerprints and exit
\c -p preserve file attributes
\c -q quiet, don't show statistics
\c -r copy directories recursively
\c -l user connect with specified username
\c -pw passw login with specified password
\c -1 -2 force use of particular SSH protocol version
+\c -4 -6 force use of IPv4 or IPv6
\c -C enable compression
\c -i key private key file for authentication
+\c -noagent disable use of Pageant
+\c -agent enable use of Pageant
\c -batch disable all interactive prompts
\c -unsafe allow server-side wildcards (DANGEROUS)
-\c -V print version information
\c -sftp force use of SFTP protocol
\c -scp force use of SCP protocol
\S{pscp-usage-basics} The basics
-To receive (a) file(s) from a remote server:
+To \I{receiving files}receive (a) file(s) from a remote server:
\c pscp [options] [user@]host:source target
\c pscp fred@example.com:/etc/hosts c:\temp\example-hosts.txt
-To send (a) file(s) to a remote server:
+To \I{sending files}send (a) file(s) to a remote server:
\c pscp [options] source [source...] [user@]host:target
\c pscp c:\documents\foo.txt fred@example.com:/tmp/foo
-You can use wildcards to transfer multiple files in either
+You can use \i{wildcards} to transfer multiple files in either
direction, like this:
\c pscp c:\documents\*.doc fred@example.com:docfiles
However, in the second case (using a wildcard for multiple remote
files) you may see a warning saying something like \q{warning:
-remote host tried to write to a file called 'terminal.c' when we
-requested a file called '*.c'. If this is a wildcard, consider
-upgrading to SSH 2 or using the '-unsafe' option. Renaming of this
-file has been disallowed}.
+remote host tried to write to a file called \cq{terminal.c} when we
+requested a file called \cq{*.c}. If this is a wildcard, consider
+upgrading to SSH-2 or using the \cq{-unsafe} option. Renaming of
+this file has been disallowed}.
-This is due to a fundamental insecurity in the old-style SCP
-protocol: the client sends the wildcard string (\c{*.c}) to the
+This is due to a \I{security risk}fundamental insecurity in the old-style
+\i{SCP protocol}: the client sends the wildcard string (\c{*.c}) to the
server, and the server sends back a sequence of file names that
match the wildcard pattern. However, there is nothing to stop the
server sending back a \e{different} pattern and writing over one of
cannot reliably verify that the filenames sent back match the
pattern.
-PSCP will attempt to use the newer SFTP protocol (part of SSH 2)
+PSCP will attempt to use the newer \i{SFTP} protocol (part of SSH-2)
where possible, which does not suffer from this security flaw. If
-you are talking to an SSH 2 server which supports SFTP, you will
+you are talking to an SSH-2 server which supports SFTP, you will
never see this warning. (You can force use of the SFTP protocol,
if available, with \c{-sftp} - see \k{pscp-usage-options-backend}.)
-If you really need to use a server-side wildcard with an SSH 1
-server, you can use the \c{-unsafe} command line option with PSCP:
+If you really need to use a server-side wildcard with an SSH-1
+server, you can use the \i\c{-unsafe} command line option with PSCP:
\c pscp -unsafe fred@example.com:source/*.c c:\source
are giving the server the ability to write to \e{any} file in the
target directory, so you should only use this option if you trust
the server administrator not to be malicious (and not to let the
-server machine be cracked by malicious people).
+server machine be cracked by malicious people). Alternatively, do
+any such download in a newly created empty directory. (Even in
+\q{unsafe} mode, PSCP will still protect you against the server
+trying to get out of that directory using pathnames including
+\cq{..}.)
\S2{pscp-usage-basics-user} \c{user}
-The login name on the remote server. If this is omitted, and \c{host}
+The \i{login name} on the remote server. If this is omitted, and \c{host}
is a PuTTY saved session, PSCP will use any username specified by that
saved session. Otherwise, PSCP will attempt to use the local Windows
username.
-\S2{pscp-usage-basics-host} \c{host}
+\S2{pscp-usage-basics-host} \I{hostname}\c{host}
The name of the remote server, or the name of an existing PuTTY saved
session. In the latter case, the session's settings for hostname, port
\S2{pscp-usage-basics-source} \c{source}
-One or more source files. \i{Wildcards} are allowed. The syntax of
+One or more source files. \ii{Wildcards} are allowed. The syntax of
wildcards depends on the system to which they apply, so if you are
copying \e{from} a Windows system \e{to} a UNIX system, you should use
Windows wildcard syntax (e.g. \c{*.*}), but if you are copying \e{from}
If the source is a remote server and you do not specify a full
pathname (in UNIX, a pathname beginning with a \c{/} (slash)
character), what you specify as a source will be interpreted relative
-to your home directory on the remote server.
+to your \i{home directory} on the remote server.
\S2{pscp-usage-basics-target} \c{target}
PSCP also supports some of its own options. The following sections
describe PSCP's specific command-line options.
-These are the command line options that PSCP accepts.
+\S2{pscp-usage-options-ls}\I{-ls-PSCP}\c{-ls} \I{listing files}list remote files
-\S2{pscp-usage-options-p}\c{-p} preserve file attributes
+If the \c{-ls} option is given, no files are transferred; instead,
+remote files are listed. Only a hostname specification and
+optional remote file specification need be given. For example:
+
+\c pscp -ls fred@example.com:dir1
+
+The SCP protocol does not contain within itself a means of listing
+files. If SCP is in use, this option therefore assumes that the
+server responds appropriately to the command \c{ls\_-la};
+this may not work with all servers.
+
+If SFTP is in use, this option should work with all servers.
+
+\S2{pscp-usage-options-p}\I{-p-PSCP}\c{-p} \i{preserve file attributes}
By default, files copied with PSCP are \i{timestamp}ed with the date and
time they were copied. The \c{-p} option preserves the original
timestamp on copied files.
-\S2{pscp-usage-options-q}\c{-q} quiet, don't show \i{statistics}
+\S2{pscp-usage-options-q}\I{-q-PSCP}\c{-q} quiet, don't show \i{statistics}
By default, PSCP displays a meter displaying the progress of the
current transfer:
transferred. The \c{-q} option to PSCP suppresses the printing of
these statistics.
-\S2{pscp-usage-options-r}\c{-r} copies directories \i{recursive}ly
+\S2{pscp-usage-options-r}\I{-r-PSCP}\c{-r} copies directories \i{recursive}ly
By default, PSCP will only copy files. Any directories you specify to
copy will be skipped, as will their contents. The \c{-r} option tells
their contents. This allows you to use PSCP to transfer whole
directory structures between machines.
-\S2{pscp-usage-options-batch}\c{-batch} avoid interactive prompts
+\S2{pscp-usage-options-batch}\I{-batch-PSCP}\c{-batch} avoid interactive prompts
If you use the \c{-batch} option, PSCP will never give an
interactive prompt while establishing the connection. If the
scripts: using \c{-batch}, if something goes wrong at connection
time, the batch job will fail rather than hang.
-\S2{pscp-usage-options-backend}\c{-sftp}, \c{-scp} force use of
+\S2{pscp-usage-options-backend}\i\c{-sftp}, \i\c{-scp} force use of
particular protocol
As mentioned in \k{pscp-usage-basics}, there are two different file
transfer protocols in use with SSH. Despite its name, PSCP (like many
other ostensible \cw{scp} clients) can use either of these protocols.
-The older SCP protocol does not have a written specification and
-leaves a lot of detail to the server platform. Wildcards are expanded
+The older \i{SCP protocol} does not have a written specification and
+leaves a lot of detail to the server platform. \ii{Wildcards} are expanded
on the server. The simple design means that any wildcard specification
supported by the server platform (such as brace expansion) can be
used, but also leads to interoperability issues such as with filename
quoting (for instance, where filenames contain spaces), and also the
security issue described in \k{pscp-usage-basics}.
-The newer SFTP protocol, which is usually associated with SSH 2
+The newer \i{SFTP} protocol, which is usually associated with SSH-2
servers, is specified in a more platform independent way, and leaves
issues such as wildcard syntax up to the client. (PuTTY's SFTP
wildcard syntax is described in \k{psftp-wildcards}.) This makes it
The \c{-sftp} option forces PSCP to use the SFTP protocol or quit.
When this option is specified, PSCP looks harder for an SFTP server,
-which may allow use of SFTP with SSH 1 depending on server setup.
+which may allow use of SFTP with SSH-1 depending on server setup.
-\S{pscp-retval} Return value
+\S{pscp-retval} \ii{Return value}
-PSCP returns an \cw{ERRORLEVEL} of zero (success) only if the files
-were correctly transferred. You can test for this in a batch file,
+PSCP returns an \i\cw{ERRORLEVEL} of zero (success) only if the files
+were correctly transferred. You can test for this in a \i{batch file},
using code such as this:
\c pscp file*.* user@hostname:
\c if errorlevel 1 echo There was an error
-\S{pscp-pubkey} Using public key authentication with PSCP
+\S{pscp-pubkey} Using \i{public key authentication} with PSCP
Like PuTTY, PSCP can authenticate using a public key instead of a
password. There are three ways you can do this.
~mdw / sgt / putty / blobdiff