Fabric is a Python (2.5 or higher) library and command-line tool for

streamlining the use of SSH for application deployment or systems

administration tasks.

It provides a basic suite of operations for executing local or remote shell

commands (normally or via ``sudo``) and uploading/downloading files, as well as

auxiliary functionality such as prompting the running user for input, or

aborting execution.

Typical use involves creating a Python module containing one or more functions,

then executing them via the ``fab`` command-line tool. Below is a small but

complete "fabfile" containing a single task::

from fabric.api import run

def host_type():

run('uname -s')

Once a task is defined, it may be run on one or more servers, like so::

$ fab -H localhost,linuxbox host_type

[localhost] run: uname -s

[localhost] out: Darwin

[linuxbox] run: uname -s

[linuxbox] out: Linux

Done.

Disconnecting from localhost... done.

Disconnecting from linuxbox... done.

In addition to use via the ``fab`` tool, Fabric's components may be imported

into other Python code, providing a Pythonic interface to the SSH protocol

suite at a higher level than that provided by e.g. Paramiko (which

Fabric itself leverages.)