SCP Password Prompt

[tmctl]

• nvim --version:

NVIM v0.3.1
Build type: Release
LuaJIT 2.0.5
Compilation: /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/mac/super/clang -Wconversion -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 -DNDEBUG -DMIN_LOG_LEVEL=3 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -Wno-unused-parameter -Wstrict-prototypes -std=gnu99 -Wimplicit-fallthrough -Wvla -fstack-protector-strong -fdiagnostics-color=auto -DINCLUDE_GENERATED_DECLARATIONS -D_GNU_SOURCE -DNVIM_MSGPACK_HAS_FLOAT32 -DNVIM_UNIBI_HAS_VAR_FROM -I/tmp/neovim-20180721-48604-1emkq4l/neovim-0.3.1/build/config -I/tmp/neovim-20180721-48604-1emkq4l/neovim-0.3.1/src -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/opt/gettext/include -I/usr/include -I/tmp/neovim-20180721-48604-1emkq4l/neovim-0.3.1/build/src/nvim/auto -I/tmp/neovim-20180721-48604-1emkq4l/neovim-0.3.1/build/include
Compiled by [email protected]

Features: +acl +iconv +jemalloc +tui
See ":help feature-compile"

   system vimrc file: "$VIM/sysinit.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/local/Cellar/neovim/0.3.1/share/nvim"

• Vim (version: ) behaves differently?
  yes - prompts for a password (vim 8.1)
• Operating system/version:
  macOS 10.13.6
• Terminal name/version:
  iterm 3.2.0 and Terminal 2.8.2
• $TERM:
  xterm-256color

Steps to reproduce using nvim -u NORC

nvim -u NORC
:scp 'user@host:/path/to/file' '/path/to/file'

or

nvim scp://user@host//path

Actual behaviour

3 permission denied responses

Expected behaviour

a prompt for the password

[justinmk]

https://github.com/neovim/neovim/wiki/FAQ#-and-system-do-weird-things-with-interactive-processes

[tmctl]

@justinmk thank you. is there a best practice to opening a file over the network that is going to challenge for a password? :e scp://user@host//path or do I just need to not use this functionality in this use case?

[jamessan]

Use an ssh-agent with a GUI prompt and/or key-based authentication.

[sktrinh12]

hi, was there a solution to this? or nvim is incapable of doing remote editing? I am encountering the same issue. I tried reading that link provided but I don't understand it.

[tmctl]

hi, was there a solution to this? or nvim is incapable of doing remote editing? I am encountering the same issue. I tried reading that link provided but I don't understand it.

The answer was basically that it's not supported.

[camAtGitHub]

For nvim to work without password prompts you need to enable the ssh feature of multiplexing.
Edit your ~/.ssh/config file (or create it) and add at the bottom of the file:

Host *
#   User your-generic-username-here
    ControlPath ~/.ssh/%C
    ControlMaster auto
    ControlPersist 15s

Now ssh to the server in question in a different terminal/windows etc
Now in the original terminal/window type: nvim scp://[email protected]//tmp/foo and Voilà !
I recommend using scp instead of sftp, in my limited testing, sftp fails silently if the write failed (ie. due to permissions).
Also notice the double slash before tmp, yes thats needed.

Additional benefits of mutliplexing are:

• ssh to the server again... no password prompt.
• Tab expansion on files & paths when using sftp & scp on the cli.
• Other secret stuff!