Converting from other tools

linscp-cli covers what most transfer scripts do, but each tool has its own habits. This page lists what changes when you move a job over.

From WinSCP scripts

The command language is the same, so a WinSCP script needs only local changes:

• Call linscp-cli instead of winscp.com. The switches keep their names.
• Rewrite local paths: C:\data\out\ becomes /home/alice/out/. Remote paths stay as they were.
• Turn .bat wrappers into shell scripts. %ERRORLEVEL% becomes $?, and %%TIMESTAMP...%% in a batch file becomes %TIMESTAMP...% inside single quotes in the shell.
• %WINSCP_PATH% is not set for scripts run by linscp-cli. Use a path of your own.
• To reuse your stored sites and host keys, export the configuration from WinSCP to an INI file and use it as ~/.config/linscp/WinSCP.ini, or pass it with /ini=. See raw configuration.

From OpenSSH sftp batch files

sftp -b	linscp-cli
sftp -b job.txt deploy@files.example.org	linscp-cli /script=job.txt, with open sftp://deploy@files.example.org/ as the first line
get -r dir / put -r dir	get dir / put dir: folders are copied with their contents
rename old new	mv old new
-rm file (ignore failure)	option batch continue, then rm file, then option batch abort
lmkdir dir	Run mkdir in the shell before the job
bye, quit	exit

Two habits do not carry over:

• Host keys. linscp-cli does not look keys up in ~/.ssh/known_hosts when it connects. Pin the key with -hostkey, accept it once in the GUI, or import your known_hosts entries in the GUI with Site Manager › Tools › Import Sites. See sessions and credentials.
• Keys. linscp-cli uses the agent at $SSH_AUTH_SOCK like sftp does, but a key file must be in PuTTY’s format. Convert it once with linscp-cli /keygen ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 /output=/home/alice/.ssh/id_ed25519.ppk.

The same Import Sites dialog reads hosts from ~/.ssh/config, which saves typing the connection details again.

From lftp

lftp	linscp-cli
open -u alice,secret ftp.example.com	open ftp://alice@ftp.example.com/ -password=%FTP_PASSWORD%
set ftp:ssl-force true	Use an ftpes:// URL
set ftp:passive-mode off	-passive=off on open
mirror /remote /local	synchronize local /local /remote
mirror -R /local /remote	synchronize remote /local /remote
mirror --delete	add -delete
mirror --only-newer	the default for synchronize; -mirror to also replace newer files
mget *.csv	get *.csv ./

Note the order of the folders: synchronize takes the local folder first, whichever direction it copies. See synchronize.

From FileZilla

FileZilla has no scripting language, but linscp-cli can open its stored sites. On Linux it reads ~/.config/filezilla/sitemanager.xml:

open -filezilla "Office server"

The site name is the one shown in FileZilla’s Site Manager. To keep the sites permanently, import them into linscp’s Site Manager with Tools › Import Sites and open them by name from then on.

Checking the result

Run the converted job by hand with /log= and compare the transferred files with what the old tool produced. Then schedule it, following scheduling.