Another way:

# Open a connection to the remote host and
# create a control socket at /tmp/ssh_socket
ssh -S /tmp/ssh_socket -M -N -f host.example.com

# Use the control socket to transfer files.
scp -o ControlPath=/tmp/ssh_socket file1 dummy:remote_file1
scp -o ControlPath=/tmp/ssh_socket file2 dummy:remote_file2
# etc.

# or with rsync...
rsync --rsh="ssh -S /tmp/ssh_socket" -av /local/dir/ dummy:/remote/dir/

# Bring the connection down.
ssh -S /tmp/ssh_socket -O exit dummy


The "dummy" host above can be anything, it doesn't matter since you
have already specified the socket to send things through.


Cheers,
Andreas

On 15/08/07, James Hartley <jjhartley@gmail.com> wrote:
quoted text
> The manpage for scp(1) mentions the -B option for running scp in batch
> mode, but no further details.  How can scp be run without prompting
> for a password?
>
> Thanks.
>
>


-- 
Andreas Kahari
Somewhere in the general Cambridge area, UK