Bug 1989

Summary:	SCP wihout a source path
Product:	Portable OpenSSH	Reporter:	cent9ur
Component:	scp	Assignee:	Assigned to nobody <unassigned-bugs>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX
Severity:	normal	CC:	cent9ur, djm
Priority:	P2	Keywords:	help-wanted
Version:	4.3p2
Hardware:	All
OS:	All

Description cent9ur 2012-03-06 16:40:45 AEDT

Hi,

I regularly use scp to copy files between hosts like this:

"scp -prv user@remotehost:/path/to/copy ."

However, today, I made a mistake and typed this instead:
"scp -prv user@remotehost: /path/to/copy ."

This started copying user@remotehosts $HOME to . on the local host I was on.

So I have now tried "scp -prv user@remotehost: ." which also copies $HOME to . on the local host. I did not know you could do this. I am under the impression that I must always include a path or at least a "/" after ":" as this is how I interpret the "file" in the man pages as it does not have "[]"

Additionally, if I use "scp -prv user@remotehost: /path/to/copy ." it starts writing everything to . instead of /path/to/copy.

Is this a bug?

System Profile:
"Linux myhostname 2.6.18-274.el5 #1 SMP Fri Jul 8 17:36:59 EDT 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux"
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.7 (Tikanga)
openssh-clients-4.3p2-72.el5_6.3
http://www.unix.com/unix-advanced-expert-users/178058-scp-wihout-source-path.html#post302603942

Comment 1 Damien Miller 2012-03-09 10:05:39 AEDT

No, this is not a bug.

The path after : is optional, with the default being the remote user's home directory. Consider "scp blah.txt user@host:"

For the case of "scp -prv user@remotehost: /path/to/copy .", it's doing exactly what you tell it: copying user@remotehost's home directory as well as /path/to/copy to your local home directory.

Comment 2 Damien Miller 2015-08-11 23:04:58 AEST

Set all RESOLVED bugs to CLOSED with release of OpenSSH 7.1