Net::SCP::Expect - Wrapper for scp that allows passwords via Expect.
Example 1 - uses login method, longhand scp:
my $scpe = Net::SCP::Expect->new;
$scpe->login('user name', 'password');
$scpe->scp('file','host:/some/dir');
.
Example 2 - uses constructor, shorthand scp:
my $scpe = Net::SCP::Expect->new(host=>'host', user=>'user', password=>'xxxx');
$scpe->scp('file','/some/dir'); # 'file' copied to 'host' at '/some/dir'
Example 3 - Copying from remote machine to local host
my $scpe = Net::SCP::Expect->new(user=>'user',password=>'xxxx');
$scpe->scp('host:/some/dir/filename','newfilename');
See the scp() method for more information on valid syntax.
Expect 1.14. May work with earlier versions, but was tested with 1.14 (and now 1.15) only.
This module is simply a wrapper around the scp call. The primary difference between this module and Net::SCP is that you may send a password programmatically, instead of being forced to deal with interactive sessions.
Net::SCP::Expect->new(option=>val,...)
Creates a new object and optionally takes a series of options (see OPTIONS below).
error_handler(sub ref)
This sets up an error handler to catch any problems with a call to 'scp()'. If you do not define an error handler, then a simple 'croak()' call will occur, with the last line sent to the terminal added as part of the error message. The first argument passed to your sub will be the error message.
I highly recommend you forcibly terminate your program somehow within your handler (via die, croak, exit, etc), otherwise your program may hang, as it sits there waiting for terminal input.
host(host)
Sets the host for the current object
login(login,password)
If the login and password are not passed as options to the constructor, they must be passed with this method (or set individually - see 'user' and 'password' methods). If they were already set, this method will overwrite them with the new values.
password(password)
Sets the password for the current user
user(user)
Sets the user for the current object
scp()
Copies the file from source to destination. If no host is specified, you will be using 'scp' as an expensive form of 'cp'.
There are several valid ways to use this method
REMOTE TO LOCAL
scp(source, user@host:destination);
scp(source, host:destination); # User already defined
scp(source, :destination); # User and host already defined
scp(source, destination); # Same as previous
LOCAL TO REMOTE
scp(user@host:source, destination);
scp(host:source, destination);
scp(:source, destination);
cipher - Selects the cipher to use for encrypting the data transfer.
error_handler - A sub ref that will be called when an 'scp()' call fails. The first argument passed to your method will be the error message (which is, in fact, the last line of terminal output grabbed by Expect).
host - Specify the host name. This is now useful for both local-to-remote and remote-to-local transfers.
password - The password for the given login.
port - Use the specified port.
preserve - Preserves modification times, access times, and modes from the original file.
recursive - Set to 1 if you want to recursively copy entire directories.
timeout - Sets the timeout value for your operation. The default is 10 seconds.
user - The login name you wish to use.
verbose - Set to 1 if you want verbose output sent to STDOUT.
The -q option (disable progress meter) is automatically passed to scp.
The -B option may NOT be set. If you don't want to send passwords, I recommend using Net::SCP instead.
In the event that Ben Trott releases a version of Net::SSH::Perl that supports scp, I recommend using that instead.
Don't whine to me about putting passwords in scripts. Set your permissions appropriately or use a .rc file of some kind.
There are a few options I haven't implemented. If you *really* want to see them added, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
A test suite (yes, I almost have one together) - no really, I promise!
At least one user has reported warnings related to POD parsing with Perl 5.00503. These can be safely ignored. They do not appear in Perl 5.6 or later.
One user has reported a bug using OpenSSH 3.1p1 where it simply seems to fail for no good reason. This may be a PAM issue, but I will try to get this worked out by release .04.
Thanks to Roland Giersig (and Austin Schutz) for the Expect module. Very handy.
Daniel Berger
djberg96@hotmail.com
To install Net::SCP::Expect, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Net::SCP::Expect
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Net::SCP::Expect
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.