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scp: switch to using the SFTP protocol by default

Description

scp: switch to using the SFTP protocol by default

From upstream release notes https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.0

This release switches scp(1) from using the legacy scp/rcp protocol
to using the SFTP protocol by default.

Legacy scp/rcp performs wildcard expansion of remote filenames (e.g.
"scp host:* .") through the remote shell. This has the side effect of
requiring double quoting of shell meta-characters in file names
included on scp(1) command-lines, otherwise they could be interpreted
as shell commands on the remote side.

This creates one area of potential incompatibility: scp(1) when using
the SFTP protocol no longer requires this finicky and brittle quoting,
and attempts to use it may cause transfers to fail. We consider the
removal of the need for double-quoting shell characters in file names
to be a benefit and do not intend to introduce bug-compatibility for
legacy scp/rcp in scp(1) when using the SFTP protocol.

Another area of potential incompatibility relates to the use of remote
paths relative to other user's home directories, for example -
"scp host:~user/file /tmp". The SFTP protocol has no native way to
expand a ~user path. However, sftp-server(8) in OpenSSH 8.7 and later
support a protocol extension "expand-path@openssh.com" to support
this.

In case of incompatibility, the scp(1) client may be instructed to use
the legacy scp/rcp using the -O flag.

Relnotes: Yes
Sponsored by: The FreeBSD Foundation

Details

Provenance
emasteAuthored on Apr 14 2022, 12:50 AM
Parents
rG87c1498d1a74: ssh: update to OpenSSH v9.0p1
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