need a command line utility that will upload a file to a host

Leb_CRX · 10-01-2007, 02:07 AM

background / issue:
I am working on a content management system, and it's almost ready to go, but the publish wont work

digging around, I've found out that they are using a command line file per file upload with sftp to the host machine, and apparently the command is this:

Code:

/usr/bin/sftp -b /var/www/html/tmp/uplPRCybF admin@192.168.0.5 -pw password

I tried on both of my linux machines (centOS 4 and 5) and neither of them like that...it just spits out the little help for sftp

I figured it might be an older version of sftp, read the man files hoping I can find something, nothing that is useful with me

tried re-arranging the command structure, nothing

the farthest I got is this:

Code:

sftp -oPort=21 -b fonts.html admin:password@192.168.0.5

and it just hangs there...

I am confused, I need a simple ftp upload tool that respects a structure like this, if possible

Code:

ftp -port -file_local_path -file_target_path user:password@ip

I can't find anything, it's late, and I've been banging my head against the table all night trying to figure this out

if anyone has any suggestions or can point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it

thanks guys and gals

colucix · 10-01-2007, 03:34 AM

Let's see... the -b <batchfile> option to sftp means "execute commands written in batchfile upon connection", so probably is not what you are looking for. E.g. if you have a file like this

Code:

cd /some/dir
get somefile
get anotherfile
put myfile
quit

these ftp commands will be executed on the remote host, as soon as you establish a connection like this

Code:

sftp -b batchfile user@host

if you want to copy just one or more file to a remote machine, better to use the scp command, like this

Code:

scp filetocopy user@host:/some/dir

this will copy the file in /some/dir on the remote host. If you omit the path, files will be copied in the user's home. Please, note that the colon ":" after host address is mandatory, otherwise files will be copied locally as a normal cp command.
Just a couple of notes: ssh/sftp/scp commands will travel through port 22 by default, not port 21 (reserved to the "normal" ftp protocol). Second, it is not possible to write password in clear text on the command line, due to the nature of these commands themselves (all the traffic is encrypted). You may consider to use public/private key authentication as a mechanism to avoid be prompted for password. Useful manpages (other than sftp) will be

Code:

man ssh
man ssh-keygen
man scp

AAnarchYY · 10-01-2007, 03:50 AM

the problem with your command is the -pw password part, as far as i know i dont think its possible to specify a password on the command line like that.

the most you can do with sftp is set up trusted keys between the servers for passwordless auth,

Leb_CRX · 10-01-2007, 12:15 PM

thanks! much appreciated, I didnt know you could setup trusted keys

from the looks of it, this is me adding a certain level of complexity that I don't need for this somewhat basic class...I talked to the person who owns the CMS, and apparently an older version just used straight PHP ftp commands, or something along those lines, and this sftp was custom to 1 client who didn't want potential 2 way communication between the live server and the app...go figure

I'll be switching back to that class, and hopefully all will go well

thanks again

matthewg42 · 10-01-2007, 12:35 PM

scp is ideal for this sort of thing. Again, if you want to have it run non-interactively, you should set up public key authentication.