pscp(1)

💖 pscp(1) — the parallel file upload program, but make it a group chat 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the General Commands Manual, and it's literally all about pscp, which is a parallel file upload program. yes. parallel. it does the thing many times at once and it's iconic for it. 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

pscp — parallel file upload program 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

pscp [-vAr] [-h hosts_file] [-H [user@]host[:port]] [-l user] [-p par]
[-o outdir] [-e errdir] [-t timeout] [-O options] [-x args] [-X arg]
source dest

like. that's the shape of it. source, dest, and a whole lil bouquet of flags in between. no cap. 🌈

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so pscp is a program for copying files in parallel to a number of hosts, and it does it by using the scp program underneath. the way that it also gives you extras?? it provides features such as passing a password to scp, saving output to files, and timing out. it's giving "scp but make it a whole squad". 💜

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

every single one, bestie. we're not skipping anybody, that's not the vibe.

• -h host_file, --hosts host_file — read hosts from the given host_file. lines in the host file are of the form [user@]host[:port] and can include blank lines and comments (lines beginning with #). if multiple host files are given (the -h option is used more than once), then pscp behaves as though these files were concatenated together. and if a host is specified multiple times, then pscp will connect the given number of times. yes, on purpose. it said what it said. 💀
• -H [user@]host[:port], --host [user@]host[:port], -H "[user@]host[:port] [ [user@]host[:port ] ... ]", --host "[user@]host[:port] [ [user@]host[:port ] ... ]" — add the given host strings to the list of hosts. this option may be given multiple times, and may be used in conjunction with the -h option. besties working together, we love to see it. 🫶
• -l user, --user user — use the given username as the default for any host entries that don't specifically specify a user. it's the backup plan username. main character fallback energy. ✨
• -p parallelism, --par parallelism — use the given number as the maximum number of concurrent connections. how many besties are knocking on doors at once. 🚪
• -t timeout, --timeout timeout — make connections time out after the given number of seconds. with a value of 0, pscp will not timeout any connections. zero means no timer at all, it's just gonna sit there and wait like a loyal friend. 😭
• -o outdir, --outdir outdir — save standard output to files in the given directory. filenames are of the form [user@]host[:port][.num] where the user and port are only included for hosts that explicitly specify them. the number is a counter that is incremented each time for hosts that are specified more than once. so like, numbered besties. 🔢
• -e errdir, --errdir errdir — save standard error to files in the given directory. filenames are of the same form as with the -o option. same naming scheme, different vibe (it's the errors). 🙈
• -x args, --extra-args args — passes extra SSH command-line arguments (see the ssh(1) man page for more information about SSH arguments). this option may be specified multiple times. the arguments are processed to split on whitespace, protect text within quotes, and escape with backslashes. to pass arguments without such processing, use the -X option instead. it's the ✨ processed ✨ one. 🎀
• -X arg, --extra-arg arg — passes a single SSH command-line argument (see the ssh(1) man page for more information about SSH arguments). unlike the -x option, no processing is performed on the argument, including word splitting. to pass multiple command-line arguments, use the option once for each argument. raw. untouched. feral. 🐾
• -O options, --options options — SSH options in the format used in the SSH configuration file (see the ssh_config(5) man page for more information). this option may be specified multiple times. 🧚
• -A, --askpass — prompt for a password and pass it to ssh. the password may be used for either to unlock a key or for password authentication. the password is transferred in a fairly secure manner (e.g., it will not show up in argument lists). however, be aware that a root user on your system could potentially intercept the password. 🚨 okay so that last part is real, root can theoretically snatch it, so know that going in. not me being the responsible friend for once. 😤
• -v, --verbose — include error messages from ssh with the -i and -e options. it's the "tell me everything" button. 👀
• -r, --recursive — recursively copy directories. folders inside folders inside folders, we go deep. 🌊
• --download — download from remote instead of upload. the downloaded files will be placed inside a directory named after host. direction flip, plot twist, love that for us. 🔄

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💡 TIPS 💡

the ssh_config file can include an arbitrary number of Host sections. each host entry specifies ssh options which apply only to the given host. Host definitions can even behave like aliases if the HostName option is included. this ssh feature, in combination with pssh host files, provides a tremendous amount of flexibility. like. the customization goes crazy. 🌈✨

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🚦 EXIT STATUS 🚦

the exit status codes from pscp are as follows:

• 0 — success 🎉
• 1 — miscellaneous error 🫠
• 2 — syntax or usage error 🙃
• 3 — at least one process was killed by a signal or timed out. 💀
• 4 — all processes completed, but at least one scp process reported an error (exit status other than 0). 😭

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🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

written by Brent N. Chun <bnc@theether.org> and Andrew McNabb <amcnabb@mcnabbs.org>.

https://github.com/lilydjwg/pssh

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

ssh(1), ssh_config(5), pssh(1), prsync(1), pslurp(1), pnuke(1),

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okay that's the whole page bestie, every flag accounted for, no crumbs left. 💅

and for the cute sign-off: this lil legend is dated January 24, 2012, and it lives in the pscp(1) manual page. periodt. 🎀💖