Which implementation

git-ftp exists twice: as the original Bash script and as a native Python port. Both deploy the same way and can take over from each other at any time.

Short answer

Install the Python implementation unless you have a reason not to:

pip install git-ftp

It transfers files in parallel, needs no lftp for downloading, verifies SFTP host keys, keeps passwords out of the process list and fixes a long list of upstream bugs.

Use the Bash implementation when Python is inconvenient — a minimal container, a shared host where only a shell script may be dropped into bin, or a system whose distribution already packages git-ftp and where that is the easiest thing to audit.

Side by side

	git-ftp (Python)	git-ftp (Bash)
Source	git-ftp/git-ftp-py	git-ftp/git-ftp
Install	pip install git-ftp	distribution package or one script
Runtime	Python 3.10+, git	POSIX shell, curl, git
FTP, FTPS, FTPES	libcurl through pycurl	curl
SFTP	paramiko, host keys verified	curl, host key not checked
Transfers	parallel, --jobs (default 4)	one file after another
download, pull, snapshot	built in	needs lftp installed
Passwords	passed to libcurl in memory	may appear in the process list
Encrypted SSH keys	--key-passphrase, prompt, ssh-agent	not supported
Progress	spinner with a done/total count on a terminal	plain lines
--worktree	yes — edits during upload cannot leak in	no
Shell completion	bash, zsh, fish	no

What they share

The port's rule is that everything on the wire and in configuration stays identical:

• the deployed-commit file .git-ftp.log, at the same place with the same content;
• the git-ftp.* configuration keys, the scope keys and .git-ftp-config, with the same precedence;
• .git-ftp-ignore and .git-ftp-include, with the same glob and target:source semantics;
• the pre-ftp-push and post-ftp-push hooks, with the same arguments and stdin format;
• the exit codes and the progress messages.

So you can deploy with the Bash script today and with the Python program tomorrow, from another machine, without touching the server.

The full list of what is identical, what was fixed and what deliberately differs is on the compatibility page.

Switching

There is nothing to migrate. Install the other implementation and run git ftp push — it reads the same configuration and the same remote log. If you want to be sure first:

git ftp push --dry-run