sftp Vs scp

[Gert Doering]

Hi,

On Thu, Jan 24, 2019 at 08:26:39PM +0000, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 24, 2019 at 12:00:48PM -0800, Jim Knoble wrote:
> > 3. 'scp' stays, but becomes the CLI for SFTP, and the SCP protocol breaks. 
> 
> Why does "scp becomes the CLI for SFTP" necessitate "the SCP protocol
> breaks"?

The way scp works today is "run ssh to the remote, then invoke scp with
a few extra options".  So if "the program named scp" will no longer
provide the server side functionality, it would break *older* scp
clients trying to talk "scp-the-old-protocol" to *newer* ssh installations.

Now, of course, the "scp-that-does-sftp" binary could have an
understanding for the old scp-server-side options...  but that
sounds like a maintenance annoyance.

gert
-- 
"If was one thing all people took for granted, was conviction that if you 
 feed honest figures into a computer, honest figures come out. Never doubted 
 it myself till I met a computer with a sense of humor."
                             Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Gert Doering - Munich, Germany                             gert at greenie.muc.de