> If you are going over an ssh connection then scp seems like the
> appropriate tool. Yeah, rsync would work, but it's just a useless
> extra layer of software...
Actually, rsync has one edge over scp even where its other attributes
are moot: atomicity.
Rsync keeps the data in a temporary location then moves the whole file
into place at the conclusion of a successful transfer. Scp, however,
creates the file at start of transfer and that file will continue to
grow as the transfer progresses. A failure part-way through a scp
transfer will leave an incomplete file on the receiving end.
For situations where a process on the receiving side watches for and
processes newly added files or situations where I require a reliable
all-or-none transfer such as distribution of configuration files, I use
rsync.
Of course this attribute of rsync means that updates of an existing file
require sufficient disk-space for both old and new versions of the file.
Cheers,
Steve
