SSH – Why SSH Command Doesn’t Follow RFC on URI

opensshssh

The RFC:

presents the SSH URI as:

ssh://[<user>[;fingerprint=<host-key fingerprint>]@]<host>[:<port>]

Are there any known reasons why the OpenSSH ssh command doesn't follow this standard with the hostname option? It does not accept a port after a colon.

Example of a URI I was expecting to work:

$ ssh user@host:2222
ssh: Could not resolve hostname host:2222: Name or service not known

Best Answer

ssh predates the more general URI format (1998) by several years (1995 IIRC).

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