Bazzite SFTP Tools

Changes the board

Starting or configuring an SSH server changes the local or remote Bazzite host. Starting the local server enables it at boot and may open the firewall for SSH. Review access and firewall rules before enabling it.

SFTP Tools moves files between your computer and another one over SSH, and manages the SSH server (sshd) of a PlayStation 5 running Bazzite. The server controls apply to the Bazzite host, not to PlayStation firmware or services. It has two tabs:

• SFTP Client: your folders on the left, the server's on the right. Upload and download files and whole folders, with a transfer queue, a speed limit and a choice of what to do when a file already exists.
• Server Manager: connect to a Bazzite host, see whether sshd runs, start or stop it, and edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config; start or stop sshd on this computer too, to make it the host.

The app is a client. Install it on the computer you connect from. The host you connect to only needs a reachable sshd; it does not need the app.

The app changes nothing by itself. The Server Manager changes the SSH server of the host you connect to, and starts or stops the SSH server of this computer, only when you press its buttons, and it asks first.

What it needs

• Python 3.10 or newer. The installer makes the app's own virtual environment with PyQt6 and paramiko in it, so the suite's shared environment is not touched.
• On the host you connect to: sshd running, and the firewall open for it. Set up the host has the commands.
• Optional: paplay (the sound of the beep when a transfer completes). Without it the app uses Qt's beep.

Install

Install it from the portal, on its Utilities tab. From the checkout or an extracted app release, run ./install.sh in the app folder, as your own user. It creates the app's Python environment (a download of about 100 MB the first time), a menu entry and a Desktop shortcut. Use --no-desktop-shortcut to skip the shortcut, --uninstall to remove the app, or --uninstall --purge to remove its settings and profiles too.

The app starts from the app menu, the Desktop or ~/.local/bin/ps5-sftp-tools.

Using it

1. In SFTP Client, fill in the host, the port (22), your user name and either a password or the path of a private key. A key is the better choice; with a key, the password field holds the key's passphrase.
2. Press Connect in the window's header. The first time, the app shows the server's fingerprint and asks whether you trust it. Check it through a trusted channel first. Yes adds it to ~/.ssh/known_hosts; no makes no connection.
3. Double-click folders to open them, or type a path. Select files or folders and press Upload → or ← Download, or use the right-click menu. Ctrl-click and Shift-click select more than one. The right-click menu also deletes, after a question: check the side and the paths before you confirm.
4. To upload, you can also drag files and folders onto the server's list, from the list on the left or from your file manager. They go to the server folder that is open, and are copied, never moved.
5. The lists under the folders show the queued, failed and successful transfers. Closing the app while transfers are queued or running asks first, because it cancels them.

The window's header shows three states: Local, your own system; SFTP, the client's connection; and Bazzite SSH, the state of sshd on the host the Server Manager is connected to. Beside them, Connect connects the SFTP Client (and disconnects it again). The password rules stand at the right of the password field and show, as you type, what is still missing. A red dot at the right of the title appears after an error was logged; click it to open the log.

Profiles. Save profile keeps the host, port, user name and key path under a name. Passwords and key passphrases are never saved. The SFTP Client and the Server Manager each have their own list.

Passwords. A password without a key must have at least 8 characters, one capital, one number and one special character, or the app does not connect. An empty password is fine with a key.

Manage SSH servers

In Server Manager, connect to a Bazzite host you can reach, and the app asks sshd for its state: running or stopped. The button next to it starts or stops it, after a question: stopping can interrupt connections, and starting allows incoming SSH connections as the host is configured. Load sshd_config reads /etc/ssh/sshd_config into the editor; loading and editing save nothing. Save sshd_config asks first, checks the text with sshd -t, keeps the old file as sshd_config.bak, installs the new one and offers to restart sshd.

These steps need sudo without a password on the host (sudo -n). When the host asks for one, the app shows the error and changes nothing.

A wrong configuration or firewall change can lock you out. Keep another way to reach the host.

This computer as host. Under the status, the Server Manager shows the state of sshd on the computer the app runs on, with Start sshd here or Stop sshd here beside it. Use it to make this computer the host another computer connects to. Both ask first, and then ask for your password in the system's password dialog.

• Start enables sshd, so it also starts at boot, and opens the firewall for ssh when firewalld runs and ssh is not open yet in its default zone: the commands of Set up the host. Other computers may then connect.
• Stop disables and stops sshd, which may interrupt connections, and leaves the firewall as it is. Remove the firewall rule yourself when you no longer want it.

When openssh-server is not installed, the app says which command installs it; installing it changes the system, and the reboot after it is yours.

Set up the host

On the Bazzite host, once, in a terminal (or with Start sshd here in the app on the host itself):

rpm -q openssh-server                       # if it is missing: sudo rpm-ostree install openssh-server, then reboot
sudo systemctl enable --now sshd
systemctl is-active sshd                    # prints "active"
sudo firewall-cmd --list-services           # ssh must be in the list
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh && sudo firewall-cmd --reload   # only when it is not
hostname -I                                 # the address to connect to

Use the address of the Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection that is in use, and your account name (whoami). Keep both computers on a network you trust, and do not forward port 22 from your router to the internet.

Password logins can be switched off on a recent Fedora-based system. To switch them on, create a file for it, and restart sshd:

echo "PasswordAuthentication yes" | sudo tee /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/10-enable-passwords.conf
sudo systemctl restart sshd

Logging in with a key

On the computer you connect from:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519
ssh-copy-id yourusername@HOST_ADDRESS

Then give the key's path in the app (~/.ssh/id_ed25519), or leave the field empty to use your SSH agent and the default keys.

Settings

Edit, Settings… has these, saved when you press Save:

Setting	Default	What it does
Default local folder	home folder	The folder the left list starts in.
Connection timeout	10 s	How long to wait for a connection (1 to 300).
TCP keep-alive	15 s	How often to send a keep-alive on an idle connection (1 to 300).
Reconnect attempts, delay	2, 5 s	Retries after a failed connection (0 to 10), and the pause between them (1 to 60). A host key you have not trusted is never retried.
Show hidden files	off	Lists names that start with a dot.
If file exists	Ask	Ask, overwrite or skip when the target exists. With more than one file, Ask offers to do the same for the others.
Speed limit	unlimited	Limit in KB/s per transfer.
File size format	Auto, 1 decimal, separator	Auto (1024-based), binary (KiB, MiB) or decimal (KB, MB); decimals 0 to 3; thousands separator.
Date format, time format	YYYY-MM-DD, HH:MM:SS	How modification times are shown.
Beep when transfer completes	on	The desktop's complete sound.
Filter invalid Windows filename characters	on	A download replaces < > : " \| ? * in names with the replacement character (_), so the files can be copied to Windows later.
Enable SFTP compression	on	zlib compression on the connection.
Auto-clear successful transfers	on	Removes finished transfers from the list.
Preserve file modification times	on	Downloaded files get the remote modification time.
Log level, max log file size	INFO, 10 MB	What is logged, and the size at which the log rotates (three backups are kept).

Files

What	Where
The app	~/.local/share/ps5-sftp-tools/app and its virtual environment ~/.local/share/ps5-sftp-tools/venv
Settings	~/.config/ps5-sftp-tools/settings.json (delete it to go back to the defaults)
Profiles	~/.config/ps5-sftp-tools/profiles.json (SFTP Client), server-profiles.json (Server Manager); readable by you only
The log	~/.local/share/ps5-sftp-tools/ps5-sftp-tools.log
Trusted hosts	~/.ssh/known_hosts, never removed by the app

The app connects only to the host you enter (Privacy). The log writes your home folder as ~.

Uninstalling

Use the portal, or run ./install.sh --uninstall from the app's folder. That removes the app and its environment and keeps your settings, profiles and log. ./install.sh --uninstall --purge removes those too. Neither stops an sshd you started, nor changes the firewall.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later, see LICENSE.