Run scp as ubuntu@ copying to Ubuntu system with correct permissions?

Question

I ssh into a ubuntu box with username "ubuntu" and I can become root without entering a password via "sudo su". How can I scp files onto this box using the ubuntu@ username? It does not allow me to do so using root@. The error is:

scp: /etc/...: Permission denied

I can do this same task in rsync by using --rsync-path="sudo rsync" for example.

Answer 1

As you suggested, use rsync with the sudo trick. scp won't preserve permissions anyway.

Answer 2

You can either SCP them as the user and then log in and copy them as root. Since SCP can't su, there's not a good way to do it unless you change root's password.

(I thought you would have to add PermitRootLogin yes to /etc/sshd/sshd.cofig, but it seems Ubuntu uses the random-root-password method instead of locking out root)