diff --git a/python/vyos/remote.py b/python/vyos/remote.py
index 52d234d4a..aef4dda7e 100644
--- a/python/vyos/remote.py
+++ b/python/vyos/remote.py
@@ -1,284 +1,319 @@
 # Copyright 2021 VyOS maintainers and contributors <maintainers@vyos.io>
 #
 # This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 # version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 #
 # This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 # Lesser General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 # License along with this library.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 from ftplib import FTP
 import os
+import shutil
 import socket
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import urllib.parse
 import urllib.request
 
 from vyos.util import cmd, ask_yes_no
 from vyos.version import get_version
 from paramiko import SSHClient, SSHException, MissingHostKeyPolicy
 
 
 known_hosts_file = os.path.expanduser('~/.ssh/known_hosts')
 
+def print_error(str):
+    """
+    Used for warnings and out-of-band messages to avoid mangling precious
+    stdout output.
+    """
+    sys.stderr.write(str)
+    sys.stderr.write('\n')
+    sys.stderr.flush()
+
 class InteractivePolicy(MissingHostKeyPolicy):
     """
     Policy for interactively querying the user on whether to proceed with
     SSH connections to unknown hosts.
     """
     def missing_host_key(self, client, hostname, key):
-        print(f"Host '{hostname}' not found in known hosts.")
-        print('Fingerprint: ' + key.get_fingerprint().hex())
+        print_error(f"Host '{hostname}' not found in known hosts.")
+        print_error('Fingerprint: ' + key.get_fingerprint().hex())
         if ask_yes_no('Do you wish to continue?'):
             if client._host_keys_filename and ask_yes_no('Do you wish to permanently add this host/key pair to known hosts?'):
                 client._host_keys.add(hostname, key.get_name(), key)
                 client.save_host_keys(client._host_keys_filename)
         else:
             raise SSHException(f"Cannot connect to unknown host '{hostname}'.")
 
 
 ## FTP routines
 def transfer_ftp(mode, local_path, hostname, remote_path,\
                  username='anonymous', password='', port=21, source=None):
     with FTP(source_address=source) as conn:
         conn.connect(hostname, port)
         conn.login(username, password)
         if mode == 'upload':
             with open(local_path, 'rb') as file:
                 conn.storbinary(f'STOR {remote_path}', file)
         elif mode == 'download':
             with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
                 conn.retrbinary(f'RETR {remote_path}', file.write)
         elif mode == 'size':
             size = conn.size(remote_path)
             if size:
                 return size
             else:
                 # SIZE is an extension to the FTP specification, although it's extremely common.
                 raise ValueError('Failed to receive file size from FTP server. \
                 Perhaps the server does not implement the SIZE command?')
 
 def upload_ftp(*args, **kwargs):
     transfer_ftp('upload', *args, **kwargs)
 
 def download_ftp(*args, **kwargs):
     transfer_ftp('download', *args, **kwargs)
 
 def get_ftp_file_size(*args, **kwargs):
     return transfer_ftp('size', None, *args, **kwargs)
 
 
 ## SFTP/SCP routines
 def transfer_sftp(mode, local_path, hostname, remote_path,\
                   username=None, password=None, port=22, source=None):
     sock = None
     if source:
         sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
         sock.bind((source, 0))
         sock.connect((hostname, port))
     try:
         with SSHClient() as ssh:
             ssh.load_system_host_keys()
             if os.path.exists(known_hosts_file):
                 ssh.load_host_keys(known_hosts_file)
             ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(InteractivePolicy())
             ssh.connect(hostname, port, username, password, sock=sock)
             with ssh.open_sftp() as sftp:
                 if mode == 'upload':
                     sftp.put(local_path, remote_path)
                 elif mode == 'download':
                     sftp.get(remote_path, local_path)
                 elif mode == 'size':
                     return sftp.stat(remote_path).st_size
     finally:
         if sock:
             sock.shutdown()
             sock.close()
 
 def upload_sftp(*args, **kwargs):
     transfer_sftp('upload', *args, **kwargs)
 
 def download_sftp(*args, **kwargs):
     transfer_sftp('download', *args, **kwargs)
 
 def get_sftp_file_size(*args, **kwargs):
     return transfer_sftp('size', None, *args, **kwargs)
 
 
 ## TFTP routines
 def upload_tftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path, port=69, source=None):
     source_option = f'--interface {source}' if source else ''
     with open(local_path, 'rb') as file:
         cmd(f'curl {source_option} -s -T - tftp://{hostname}:{port}/{remote_path}',\
             stderr=None, input=file.read()).encode()
 
 def download_tftp(local_path, hostname, remote_path, port=69, source=None):
     source_option = f'--interface {source}' if source else ''
     with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
         file.write(cmd(f'curl {source_option} -s tftp://{hostname}:{port}/{remote_path}',\
                        stderr=None).encode())
 
 # get_tftp_file_size() is unimplemented because there is no way to obtain a file's size through TFTP,
 # as TFTP does not specify a SIZE command.
 
 
 ## HTTP(S) routines
 def install_request_opener(urlstring, username, password):
     """
     Take`username` and `password` strings and install the appropriate
     password manager to `urllib.request.urlopen()` for the given `urlstring`.
     """
     manager = urllib.request.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
     manager.add_password(None, urlstring, username, password)
     urllib.request.install_opener(urllib.request.build_opener(manager))
 
 # upload_http() is unimplemented.
 
 def download_http(urlstring, local_path, username=None, password=None):
     """
     Download the file from from `urlstring` to `local_path`.
     Optionally takes `username` and `password` for authentication.
     """
     request = urllib.request.Request(urlstring, headers={'User-Agent': 'VyOS/' + get_version()})
     if username:
         install_request_opener(urlstring, username, password)
     with open(local_path, 'wb') as file:
         with urllib.request.urlopen(request) as response:
             file.write(response.read())
 
 def get_http_file_size(urlstring, username=None, password=None):
     """
     Return the size of the file from `urlstring` in terms of number of bytes.
     Optionally takes `username` and `password` for authentication.
     """
     request = urllib.request.Request(urlstring, headers={'User-Agent': 'VyOS/' + get_version()})
     if username:
         install_request_opener(urlstring, username, password)
     with urllib.request.urlopen(request) as response:
         size = response.getheader('Content-Length')
         if size:
             return int(size)
         # The server didn't send 'Content-Length' in the response headers.
         else:
             raise ValueError('Failed to receive file size from HTTP server.')
 
 
 # Dynamic dispatchers
 def download(local_path, urlstring, authentication=None, source=None):
     """
     Dispatch the appropriate download function for the given `urlstring` and save to `local_path`.
     Optionally takes a `source` address (not valid for HTTP(S)) and an `authentication` tuple
      in the form of `(username, password)`.
     Supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, SCP (through SFTP) and TFTP.
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
     if authentication:
         username, password = authentication
     else:
         username, password = url.username, url.password
 
     if url.scheme == 'http' or url.scheme == 'https':
         if source:
-            print('Warning: Custom source address not supported for HTTP connections.', file=sys.stderr)
+            print_error('Warning: Custom source address not supported for HTTP connections.')
         download_http(urlstring, local_path, username, password)
     elif url.scheme == 'ftp':
         username = username if username else 'anonymous'
         download_ftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, source=source)
     elif url.scheme == 'sftp' or url.scheme == 'scp':
         download_sftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, source=source)
     elif url.scheme == 'tftp':
         download_tftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, source=source)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f'Unsupported URL scheme: {url.scheme}')
 
 def upload(local_path, urlstring, authentication=None, source=None):
     """
     Dispatch the appropriate upload function for the given URL and upload from local path.
     Optionally takes a `source` address and an `authentication` tuple
      in the form of `(username, password)`.
     `authentication` takes precedence over credentials in `urlstring`.
     Supports FTP, SFTP, SCP (through SFTP) and TFTP.
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
     if authentication:
         username, password = authentication
     else:
         username, password = url.username, url.password
 
     if url.scheme == 'ftp':
         username = username if username else 'anonymous'
         upload_ftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, source=source)
     elif url.scheme == 'sftp' or url.scheme == 'scp':
         upload_sftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, username, password, source=source)
     elif url.scheme == 'tftp':
         upload_tftp(local_path, url.hostname, url.path, source=source)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f'Unsupported URL scheme: {url.scheme}')
 
 def get_remote_file_size(urlstring, authentication=None, source=None):
     """
     Dispatch the appropriate function to return the size of the remote file from `urlstring`
      in terms of number of bytes.
     Optionally takes a `source` address (not valid for HTTP(S)) and an `authentication` tuple
      in the form of `(username, password)`.
     `authentication` takes precedence over credentials in `urlstring`.
     Supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and SFTP (through SFTP).
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
     if authentication:
         username, password = authentication
     else:
         username, password = url.username, url.password
 
     if url.scheme == 'http' or url.scheme == 'https':
         return get_http_file_size(urlstring, authentication)
     elif url.scheme == 'ftp':
         username = username if username else 'anonymous'
         return get_ftp_file_size(url.hostname, url.path, username, password, source=source)
     elif url.scheme == 'sftp' or url.scheme == 'scp':
         return get_sftp_file_size(url.hostname, url.path, username, password, source=source)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f'Unsupported URL scheme: {url.scheme}')
 
-def get_remote_file_size_maybe(urlstring, authentication=None, source=None):
-    """
-    Passes arguments to `get_remote_file_size()` but returns 0 if it fails.
-    Intended to be used in shell scripts only.
-    """
-    try:
-        return get_remote_file_size(urlstring, authentication, source)
-    except ValueError:
-        return 0
-
 def get_remote_config(urlstring, authentication=None, source=None):
     """
     Download remote (config) file from `urlstring` and return the contents as a string.
         Args:
             remote file URI:
                 scp://<user>[:<passwd>]@<host>/<file>
                 sftp://<user>[:<passwd>]@<host>/<file>
                 http://<host>/<file>
                 https://<host>/<file>
                 ftp://[<user>[:<passwd>]@]<host>/<file>
                 tftp://<host>/<file>
             authentication tuple (optional):
                 (<username>, <password>)
             source address (optional):
                 <interface>
                 <IP address>
     """
     url = urllib.parse.urlparse(urlstring)
     temp = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False).name
     try:
         download(temp, urlstring, authentication, source)
         with open(temp, 'r') as file:
             return file.read()
     finally:
         os.remove(temp)
+
+def friendly_download(local_path, urlstring, authentication=None, source=None):
+    """
+    Intended to be called from interactive, user-facing scripts.
+    """
+    destination_directory = os.path.dirname(local_path)
+    free_space = shutil.disk_usage(destination_directory).free
+    try:
+        try:
+            file_size = get_remote_file_size(urlstring, authentication, source)
+            if file_size < 1024 * 1024:
+                print_error(f'The file is {file_size / 1024.0:.3f} KiB.')
+            else:
+                print_error(f'The file is {file_size / (1024.0 * 1024.0):.3f} MiB.')
+            if file_size > free_space:
+                raise OSError(f'Not enough disk space available in "{destination_directory}".')
+        except ValueError:
+            print_error('Could not determine the file size in advance.')
+        else:
+            # TODO: Progress bar
+            print_error('Downloading...')
+            download(local_path, urlstring, authentication, source)
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        print_error('Download aborted by user.')
+        sys.exit(1)
+    except:
+        import traceback
+        # There are a myriad different reasons a download could fail.
+        # SSH errors, FTP errors, I/O errors, HTTP errors (403, 404...)
+        # We omit the scary stack trace but print the error nevertheless.
+        print_error(f'Failed to download {urlstring}.')
+        traceback.print_exception(*sys.exc_info()[:2], None)
+        sys.exit(1)
+    else:
+        print_error('Download complete.')