In case of an error, i.e. when files cannot be copied, it makes no sense to continue the build. But Jenkins does neither abort the build, when something failes, nor can I see any configuration for that behaviour.

e.g.:

SSH: Connecting from host [dev0004]
SSH: Connecting with configuration [web9t.int.swisssign.net] ...
SSH: EXEC: STDOUT/STDERR from command [ls /var/tmp/shop-certificate.*] ...
ls: cannot access /var/tmp/shop-certificate.*: No such file or directory
SSH: EXEC: completed after 200 ms
SSH: Disconnecting configuration [web9t.int.swisssign.net] ...
ERROR: Exception when publishing, exception message [Exec exit status not zero. Status [2]]
Build step 'Send files or execute commands over SSH' changed build result to UNSTABLE
[workspace] $ /bin/bash -xe /tmp/hudson4848040255435626821.sh
+ cd webtester
+ unzip ../joomla-plugin-virtuemart-3.0.2.zip
Archive: ../joomla-plugin-virtuemart-3.0.2.zip
inflating: com_virtuemart.3.0.2.tar.gz
inflating: com_virtuemart.3.0.2_ext_aio.tar.gz
[workspace] $ /bin/bash -xe /tmp/hudson2548916983990174771.sh
+ cd webtester
+ (( i=0 ))
+ (( i<10 ))
+ xvfb-run a '-server-args=-screen 0 2048x2048x24' webrunner ping-joomla.wt
[... build continues ...]