scp without using scp

Ever want to use scp to copy from standard input? Maybe you want to avoid writing out a large file before copying, or maybe you don’t have write permissions on the system you’re connected to… Here’s the solution:

tar -c "iwant/" | bzip2 -9 -c | ssh user@host 'cat >/home/user/iwant.tar.bz2'

This works because ssh is executing the command you give it on the target host and piping its stdin to that command’s stdin. Nifty!

Another option is to connect to a remote system and pull down files:

ssh user@host 'cd /home/user/ ; tar -c "iwant/" | bzip2 -9 -c' > iwant.tar.bz2

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