[Bug 3557] New: Multiple files force undocumented remote directory creation

[bugzilla-daemon at mindrot.org]

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3557

            Bug ID: 3557
           Summary: Multiple files force undocumented remote directory
                    creation
           Product: Portable OpenSSH
           Version: 9.3p1
          Hardware: Other
                OS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P5
         Component: scp
          Assignee: unassigned-bugs at mindrot.org
          Reporter: jidanni at jidanni.org

Allow us to examine cp's behaviour,

$ ls /tmp/VVVV/
ls: cannot access '/tmp/VVVV/': No such file or directory
$ cp /tmp/ssd.txt /tmp/VVVV/
cp: cannot create regular file '/tmp/VVVV/': Not a directory
$ cp /tmp/ssd.txt /tmp/ssd.txt  /tmp/VVVV/
cp: target '/tmp/VVVV/': No such file or directory

So far so good. Now let us try scp. Yes, still on the same local
machine,
$ scp /tmp/ssd.txt /tmp/VVVV/
cp: cannot create regular file '/tmp/VVVV/': Not a directory
$ scp /tmp/ssd.txt /tmp/ssd.txt  /tmp/VVVV/
/tmp/VVVV/: No such file or directory
$ scp /tmp/ssd.txt /tmp/ssd.txt  /tmp/VVVV/^C

OK, now let us go remote,
$ scp /tmp/ssd.txt jidanni.org:/tmp/MMNNOO/
scp: dest open "/tmp/MMNNOO/": Failure
scp: failed to upload file /tmp/ssd.txt to /tmp/MMNNOO/
$ scp /tmp/ssd.txt /tmp/ssd.txt jidanni.org:/tmp/MMNNOO/
ssd.txt 100%   62KB  43.1KB/s   00:01
ssd.txt 100%   62KB  43.0KB/s   00:01
Holy smokes Batman, it got fooled into creating the directory!

What this means is all safeguards against accidentally creating
directories via typos are thrown to the winds.

Yes, we are only messing up our own file system, not somebody else's,
but it is still bad.

If it is intentional, than do kindly document it on the scp man page.

No, the multiple files needn't be the same name. They could be
different.

And, if it is so wonderful, than why doesn't it work locally?
ssh -V
OpenSSH_9.2p1 Debian-2, OpenSSL 3.0.8 7 Feb 2023

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