Why is scp not overwriting my destination file?

Question

I'm trying to back up a file via the command

scp /tmp/backup.tar.gz hostname:/home/user/backup.tar.gz

When I run it, the scp progress bar shows up and it looks like its transferring the file, however when I log into the destination server to check the file, the timestamp and filesize haven't changed from the older version, so it looks like scp didn't overwrite the old file at all. It only sees to work when I manually delete the file from the destination server.

I'm running ubuntu, and this is happening on two servers: one cygwin ssh, and one fedora core 3.

Anyone have any idea why this is happening? I thought scp would ONLY overwrite existing files..

Thanks

Also happens to me on CentOS 6.0. I'm copying files from Slackware 12.1. Client ssh version is 5.0p1 and server ssh version is 5.3p1. — Milan Babuškov, Apr 09 '12 at 16:03
Have you checked if some process is not replacing the file back? I've the same issue in the past due to an rsync. Cheers, RT — user438115, Oct 03 '17 at 14:01

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 09 '12 at 16:06

10

If I omit the destination file name and only specify directory, then it works:

scp /tmp/backup.tar.gz hostname:/home/user/

I don't understand why, but it might be solution to your problem as well.

answered Apr 09 '12 at 16:06

Milan Babuškov

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '10 at 06:18

2

Under debian/lenny this is working. Perhaps you use scp -v $localFile $RemoteHost:$RemotePath/$localFile

answered Jun 14 '10 at 06:18

ThorstenS

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Why is scp not overwriting my destination file?

2 Answers2