diff --git a/hyde/ext/publishers/ssh.py b/hyde/ext/publishers/ssh.py
index b22514a..8ea7c4c 100644
--- a/hyde/ext/publishers/ssh.py
+++ b/hyde/ext/publishers/ssh.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ from hyde.publisher import Publisher
 
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
+import shlex
 
 class SSH(Publisher):
 
@@ -45,17 +46,19 @@ class SSH(Publisher):
         self.target = settings.target
         self.command = getattr(settings, 'command', 'rsync')
         self.opts = getattr(settings, 'opts', '-r -e ssh')
+        if isinstance(self.opts, str):
+            self.opts = shlex.split(self.opts)
 
     def publish(self):
-        command = "{command} {opts} ./ {username}{server}:{target}".format(
-            command=self.command,
-            opts=self.opts,
-            username=self.username + '@' if self.username else '',
-            server=self.server,
-            target=self.target)
+        command = [ self.command, ] + self.opts + [ './',
+	    '{username}{server}:{target}'.format(
+                username=self.username + '@' if self.username else '',
+                server=self.server,
+                target=self.target) ]
+        print('pubcmd:', repr(command))
         deploy_path = self.site.config.deploy_root_path.path
 
-        cmd = Popen(command, cwd=str(deploy_path), stdout=PIPE, shell=True)
-        cmdresult = cmd.communicate()[0]
+        cmd = Popen(command, cwd=str(deploy_path), stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+        cmdresult = cmd.communicate()
         if cmd.returncode:
             raise Exception(cmdresult)