Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/os/issmscpin.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/os/issmscpin.py	(revision 23721)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/os/issmscpin.py	(revision 23722)
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@
 	"""
 	ISSMSCPIN get packages from host, using scp on unix, and pscp on windows
- 
+
 	   usage: issmscpin(host,packages,path)
 	"""
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@
 	hostname=gethostname()
 
-	#first be sure packages are not in the current directory, this could conflict with pscp on windows. 
+	#first be sure packages are not in the current directory, this could conflict with pscp on windows.
 	#remove warnings in case the files do not exist
 	for package in packages:
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@
 
 	else:
-
 		if m.ispc():
 			#use the putty project pscp.exe: it should be in the path.
-		
 			#get ISSM_DIR variable
 			if 'ISSM_DIR_WIN' in os.environ:
@@ -54,15 +52,13 @@
 		else:
 			#just use standard unix scp
-			#string to copy multiple files using scp: 
-			string='\{'+','.join([str(x) for x in packages])+'\}'
-			
+			#string to copy multiple files using scp:
+			string="'{"+','.join([str(x) for x in packages])+"}'"
+
 			if port:
 				subprocess.call('scp -P %d %s@localhost:%s %s/. ' % (port,login,os.path.join(path,string),os.getcwd()),shell=True)
 			else:
-				subprocess.call('scp %s@%s:%s %s/.' % (login,host,os.path.join(path,string),os.getcwd()),shell=True)
-		
+				subprocess.call('scp -T %s@%s:%s %s/.' % (login,host,os.path.join(path,string),os.getcwd()),shell=True)
 			#check scp worked
 			for package in packages:
 				if not os.path.exists(os.path.join('.',package)):
-					raise OSError("issmscpin error message: could not call scp on *nix system.")
-
+					raise OSError("issmscpin error message: could not call scp on *nix system for file '{}'".format(package))