5.2 Multi-hop filename conventions

The syntax of multi-hop file names is necessarily slightly different than the syntax of other tramp file names. Here's an example multi-hop file name:

     /multi:rsh:out@gate:telnet:kai@real.host:/path/to.file

This is quite a mouthful. So let's go through it step by step. The file name consists of three parts. The parts are separated by colons The first part is /multi, the method specification. The second part is rsh:out@gate:telnet:kai@real.host and specifies the hops. The final part is /path/to.file and specifies the file name on the remote host.

The first part and the final part should be clear. See Multi-hop Methods, for a list of alternatives for the method specification.

The second part can be subdivided again into components, so-called hops. In the above file name, there are two hops, rsh:out@gate and telnet:kai@real.host.

Each hop can again be subdivided into (three) components, the hop method, the user name and the host name. The meaning of the second and third component should be clear, and the hop method says what program to use to perform that hop.

The first hop, rsh:out@gate, says to use rsh to log in as user out to the host gate. Starting at that host, the second hop, telnet:kai@real.host, says to use telnet to log in as user kai to host real.host.

See Multi-hop Methods, for a list of possible hop method values. The variable tramp-multi-connection-function-alist contains the list of possible hop methods and information on how to execute them, should you want to add your own.