Question

How can I make an SSH connection in Python 3.0? I want to save a file on a remote computer where I have password-less SSH set up.

Answer 1

I recommend calling ssh as a subprocess. It’s reliable and portable.

import subprocess
proc = subprocess.Popen(['ssh', 'user@host', 'cat > %s' % filename],
                        stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
proc.communicate(file_contents)
if proc.retcode != 0:
    ...

You’d have to worry about quoting the destination filename. If you want more flexibility, you could even do this:

import subprocess
import tarfile
import io
tardata = io.BytesIO()
tar = tarfile.open(mode='w:gz', fileobj=tardata)
... put stuff in tar ...
proc = subprocess.Popen(['ssh', 'user@host', 'tar xz'],
                        stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
proc.communicate(tardata.getvalue())
if proc.retcode != 0:
    ...