Re: Hoping for a working example of SFTP in PHP

[David Spector <david025@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Andrey,

You seem to be taking a somewhat attacking and uncivil tone of voice 
with me. This is not an appropriate or professional way to help someone 
who is only asking for help. I never act this way with others, so I feel 
that your attacks are unfair. If I make mistakes, simply correct them, 
please. Or at worst ignore them and don't reply. Don't go out of your 
way to insult and offend a stranger on the Web like this.

"That's ridiculous. Please use google at least before spewing such 
nonsense."

It is not ridiculous and I use Google searching everyday. Why does SFTP 
exist? Because it is more secure to encrypt a file in transit and to use 
public key systems. FTP is therefore less secure than SFTP, almost by 
definition. Instead of being uncivil, explain your objection.

"In other words, you are looking for a work done for you by somebody 
else for free."

Is a programming manual like the PHP Manual work done for free? Then, 
yes, I need work done for free. The PHP Manual has a working example of 
FTP. I actually have tested it and used it in programs. However, the PHP 
Manual is lacking a working example of SFTP using a private keyword, 
which is in my opinion the future of standard file uploading. All I ask 
for is a similar working example that uses the SFTP protocol for 
increased security.

Are you claiming that libraries need not be documented, or that they 
don't even need to work? I hope not.

"That's just as ridiculous as comparing SFTP (which uses SSH protocol at 
core) to FTP or even FTPS. They are inherently different protocols."'

This comment doesn't make sense to me. I did not confuse different 
protocols with each other. I simply stated that the heart of SFTP is to 
use a private key, which is true. Strangely, most examples of SFTP on 
the Web use username and password instead of public and private keys. I 
don't understand why this is true, since public key protocols provide 
dramatically better security. That is exactly why they exist.

"And you are unable to read documentation even being directly pointed to 
a specific function."

I read the PHP Manual almost every day, so that I can use the language 
in my programming. If you will simply try the ssh2 library function 
examples yourself, you will see that some of them do not work. That is, 
the function examples in the Manual, which usually work, do not work in 
the case of the ssh2 library when a private key is specified. Search the 
Web and you will find that this is a common problem with the ssh2 
library, when it is used at all.

One programmer who gave up on ssh2 wrote his own library, so he could 
have a library that actually works, and make it available to others. It 
is called phpseclib and is in GitHub. He told me that was the reason he 
wrote phpseclib. The only reason I would prefer not using it is because 
it is very large, bring written in PHP code. I would rather use 
something built into PHP either directly or in a library.

If ssh2 really doesn't work, it should be fixed and get documentation as 
good as for other functions. I shouldn't be attacked if a PHP library 
doesn't work and I try to get help.

David