Bazzite SFTP Tools¶

SFTP Tools moves files between your computer and another one over SSH, and manages the SSH server (sshd) of a BC-250 running Bazzite. 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.

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 does not change how the board runs. The Server Manager changes the SSH server of the host you connect to, and asks before it saves.

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.

Using it¶

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.
Press Connect in the window's header. The first time, the app shows the server's fingerprint and asks whether you trust it. Yes adds it to ~/.ssh/known_hosts; no makes no connection.
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.
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.
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: your own system, the SFTP connection and 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.

Server Manager¶

Connect, and the app asks sshd for its state: running or stopped. The button next to it starts or stops it. Load sshd_config reads /etc/ssh/sshd_config into the editor. Save sshd_config 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.

Set up the host¶

On the Bazzite host, once, in a terminal:

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.

On Windows¶

SFTP Tools also comes as a program for Windows, for connecting to the board from a Windows computer. It is not installed by the portal. On the releases page, open the latest sftp release and download bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools-<version>-windows.zip and its .sha256 file. Check the download (certutil -hashfile <zip> SHA256 must print the number in the .sha256 file), unzip it, and start BC250-SFTP-Tools.exe. It needs no Python.

The program is not signed, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning the first time: choose More info, then Run anyway. Settings, profiles and the log are in C:\Users\<you>\.config\bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools\ and C:\Users\<you>\.local\share\bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools\. The beep uses Qt's, not paplay. Windows has an OpenSSH client with ssh-keygen but no ssh-copy-id: to log in with a key, copy the public key into ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the host by hand.

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/bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools/app` and its virtual environment `.../venv`
Settings	`~/.config/bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools/settings.json` (delete it to go back to the defaults)
Profiles	`~/.config/bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools/profiles.json` (SFTP Client), `server-profiles.json` (Server Manager); readable by you only
The log	`~/.local/share/bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools/bc250-bazzite-sftp-tools.log`
Trusted hosts	`~/.ssh/known_hosts`, never removed by the app

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.