SFTP stands for [ssh] file transfer protocol; curiously, the pertinent Wikipedia
article
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSH_file_transfer_protocol]
does not seem to refer directly to the operative IETF
draft
[http://www.vandyke.com/technology/draft-ietf-secsh-filexfer.txt]. When encountering the
term '''sftp''', one may in fact see references to two different things:

   1. the ''secure file transfer program'' client, which is a command line program that comes with OpenSSH and which is an interactive interface similar to the normal [ftp] clients one may find on their platform.

   2. the true ssh file transfer ''protocol''. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSH_file_transfer_protocol refers to this as being almost a remote file system protocol.  Full support of the protocol is more than just running ftp over SSH-2 or with an [SSL] layer.

A [vfs] module for the ssh file transfer protocol would be ''extremely cool''.
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While there's a widespread belief that [Expect] is essentially necessary for effective automation of sftp (first sense), 
this is not true.  Several distinct approaches exist 
[http://support.attachmate.com/techdocs/2126.html]
[http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/sftp-automation.html]
[http://www.hiteksoftware.com/jasf/sftp-secure-file-transfer.htm]
... [[explain]]
OTOH, most of these seem to be alternative SFTP clients with built-in automation support, so for use from within Tcl the most portable solution may well be to use [Expect] (or '''sftp''' in batch mode, if that is sufficient).

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