On that note, from a Linux system, what does `sftp` use on the command line? I had always assumed that SFTP was always and only SSH transfers, just like using `scp`. Is this wrong of me to think this way?
No, this is absolutely correct. But don't be surprised if someone misinterprets you.
I didn't consider him saying "like using scp" to mean he thinks "it is scp". Rather, I took it to mean, "it uses SSH to copy files, like scp".
But, I can see how one could interpret it that way. It was not my intent.
I'm staying the heck of out of the pedantry business in the future. This has been a ridiculous bundle of threads all spawned just because I had a bee in my bonnet about how the term SFTP is confusingly misused by lots of folks. I don't even use any of these "FTP" protocols for anything (I use rsync or SVN for website data, and scp for one-off file copies--I haven't used an FTP GUI since I owned an Amiga). I only ever touch FTP for testing problems our users report, and then always using lftp on the command line. I've got no dog in this race...
:)
Seriously, here's the first DESCRIPTION paragraph of man sftp:
sftp is an interactive file transfer program, similar to ftp(1), which performs all operations over an encrypted
ssh(1) transport. It may also use many features of ssh, such as public key authentication and compression.
sftp connects and logs into the specified host, then enters an interactive command mode.If this is not an ironic comment: RTFM is good for you and it's not a good habit to encourage people to ask for "pre-digested" knowledge just because "you" see no value in looking something up.
Which brings up what I was wondering, what use cases do SFTP/FTPS/FSTP etc. satisfy that a combination of scp and rsync do not? Maybe better for GUI client and file browser interfaces?