SSH and SFTP communication in C++ using libssh2.

For some time I have been looking around for some nice C or C++ library to enable communication using the SSH and/or SFTP protocols. Finally, I found the eminent library called libssh2 on http://www.libssh2.org (or on Sourceforge). In order to incorporate this library in my project, I created a C++ class called PJSSH that encapsulates the SSH and SFTP communication details.

A relatively simple interface is provided for the user of the class, exposing some few methods:

• To execute a command on the remote server using SSH.
• To read a remote file through SFTP and write it on a std::ostream reference.
• To write the data provided by a std::istream reference onto a remote file through SFTP.

For your convenience, I provide a stripped down version of the class declaration (the header file) below. Update 2008-05-17: There is a complete source code and a test program available, see the menu.

 
#ifndef PJSSH_H
#define PJSSH_H
#include
<libssh2.h>
#include <iosfwd>
/// Class that encapsulates SSH and/or SFTP communications.
/// @author Peter Jansson   http://peter.jansson.net/
/// @date 2008-05-10
class PJSSH
{
  public:
    /// Create a SSH communications capable object.
    /// The SSH session will be initialized to communicate to the
    /// host:port specified in the arguments to this constructor,
    /// using the login credentials supplied.
    PJSSH(const char* aHostName,const int& aPortNumber,const char* aUserName,const char* aPassword);
 
    /// Destory this instance.
    /// The SSH session will be unitialized.
    ~PJSSH();
 
    /// Execute the supplied command through the established SSH session.
    void ExecuteCommand(const char* aCommand) const;
 
    /// Get a file from the remote system and write as is (i.e. binary)
    /// on the supplied stream
    void GetFile(const char* aRemoteFileName,std::ostream& aStream) const;
 
    /// Read from the supplied stream and put it as is (i.e. binary)
    /// on the remote file.
    /// The remote file will be truncated and over written if it exists.
    void PutStream(std::istream& aStream,const char* aRemoteFileName) const;
 
  protected:
    /// We don't really support copying at this stage.
    PJSSH(const PJSSH &);
    /// We don't really support assignment copy at this stage.
    PJSSH & operator=(const PJSSH &);
};
#endif // define PJSSH_H