How Linux Works

Chapter 15. NETWORK FILE TRANSFER

This book's primary focus is the single-machine environment. However, any modern machine is on a network. Eventually, you will want to transfer files from one Unix machine to another. There are many ways to move files around, but the choices usually come down to these:

• Using a simple command such as scp if you need to transfer just a few files.

• Using an archiving program such as tar through an ssh pipeline to transfer a directory hierarchy. Here is an example:

  tar cBvf - directory | ssh remote_host tar xBvpf -
  

  This old method gets the job done, but it is not very flexible. In particular, after the transfer completes, the remote host may not have an exact copy of the directory. If directory already exists on the ...