Exec() function not doing as I want (OSX)

Howdy,

Recently I switched from a Windows PC to Mac OS-X 10.5 (php v5.2.6) and
I have a little problem with one function within my cd-management script.

For extracting a bit of info from my cd's I have an executable which I
execute with exec():

$discOutput = exec('./discid /dev/rdisk2');

The executable is in the same directory as the php script is in. When I
run the same line from Terminal within that same directory it gives me
the output I want, php doesn't give me any ouput at all.

Asking exec() for output on a basic function like 'ls' does return a
value, so the function is active. I guess somehow I am not pointing to
the discid executable correctly, but I don't see what is wrong.

Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Thanks in advance, Maarten

Maarten wrote:Well I cant say for sure but I've just switched from Windows to Linux
and had been having some similar problems execing scripts...

Try adding the containing folder to your system path and/or using
absolute path instead of "./" That fixed my problems anyway.

Good luck :-)

Roger.

Maarten wrote:It could also be a permission problem - is the Apache web server the
owner of the file, or does it have access to the file?

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Well I cant say for sure but I've just switched from Windows to LinuxWell, after some technical issues I tried to add the program to the
$PATH so I don't need to specify a location anymore and also I added the
absolute path to the php script.

Both methods work fine in the terminal but within the script nothing is
returned

Maarten

It could also be a permission problem - is the Apache web server the
Apache is not the owner of the file and as it is located in the same
folder as the php script it, it should have access to it (server is for
localhost use only). According to info of the program provided by osx,
the program can be read by Everyone, Staff, and me. I guess Apache
should have enough privileges to execute the program.

Maarten

Maarten wrote:When I write filesize() and file_exists() it returns the desired values,
so php can get info on the specific executable eventhough it seems to be
invisible to exec().

Maarten

Maarten wrote:Readable and executable are two different things.

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Jerry Stuckle wrote:True, but my knowledge on the permission thing is a bit limited.
However, the permission for the specific file are:
-rwxrwxrwx 1 maarten staff 18176 Sep 19 15:11 discid

I guess this should allow the server to execute the program.

Maarten

>Readable and executable are two different things.

And writable is another different thing.
It is my experience that Apache will refuse to execute any file
that it can write. Excessive (write) permissions are just
as bad as insufficient (execute) permissions.

On Sep 19, 3:35*pm, Maarten <b...@blah.comwrote:I had a similar issue when runnning a script in linux under apache. It
took awhile for me to figure out I had to "cd" to the directory I
wanted to work in and use an absolute path to the exe that is being
executed. You may want to try something like this:

$discOutput = exec('cd /dev/rdisk2;[fullpathto discid]/discid');

Bill H

Gordon Burditt wrote:
I've just changed the permission of the program to 111. Still, the
program is not executed.

Maarten

Maarten wrote:IIRC, it has to be readable, also. I always use 550 or 555 for executables.

How do you know it's not being executed? Are you displaying errors in
your browser - in your php.ini file you should have:

error_reporting=E_ALL
display_errors=on

And what is the returned value from exec()?

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jstucklex@attglobal.net
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Jerry Stuckle wrote:Changed the executable's permission to 555, no change

Just double (php.ini and phpinfo() error reporting and display errors
have the correct values. Exec() does not return a value when executed as
below:

$discOutput = exec('/Volumes/Users/maarten/discid dev/rdisk2',
$ooutpuut);

Both $discOutput and $ooutpuut are empty. Same as when I would fill in
some bogus values in the function.

Maarten

Bill H wrote:I changed the code to:

$discOutput = exec('cd /dev/rdisk2; /Volumes/Users/maarten/discid',
$ooutpuut);

Also have I changed the permission of discid to 555. No change, however.
The problem remains. Both returned variable/array are empty.

Maarten

On Sep 23, 3:36*pm, Maarten <b...@blah.comwrote:Try to go around the problem to narrow it down. Do you have a
different executable that you can put in the same location and use
exec() on it to see if the exec() is working right, if not then you
know that discid should not be the issue, if so then there is
something in discid.

Bill H

On Sep 23, 3:36*pm, Maarten <b...@blah.comwrote:Also this should not apply to Mac OSX, but on Vista with Xampp, to get
executables to run from the exec() in php, I had to chase down cmd.exe
in the windows\system32 folder and set it to always run as
administrator before any exe's were executable using exec(). Maybe
something similar on the mac?

Bill H

Maarten wrote:Well, if the program can't be executed, you should get an error message
back.

Back to a basic question. How do you know the program is not being
executed?

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Jerry Stuckle wrote:Well, it's hard to be sure since the only thing that it does is reading
the the TOC of a CD an return it. Since it's not enough reading to make
my cd-rom light up and the function returns false, I assume it is not
being executed.

But why it behaves as it does I don't know since other functions such as
ls and the program whois, located in the same directory as discid, are
working fine. Also are the permissions set similar.

Maarten

Bill H wrote:I tried already before to execute the ls command, and that one returns
the directory listings fine. Also did I copy the whois program to the
same directory as discid and that one is also executed nicely from
within php, exec(). Permissions where set the same.

The exec() function is working. But what makes discid different I don't
know. It is working the same as all other programs in the terminal . .

On Sep 24, 10:27*am, Maarten <b...@blah.comwrote:Is discid sending out the text in a format that the exec() can get
(STDOUT ?)? Can you pipe the results to a text file? In windows I
would use somethign like $this = exec('discid here.txt');

Bill H

Maarten wrote:Then I would suspect the program itself is being executed but returning
an invalid return code to exec().

I think you need to look at what the program is doing.

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JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
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On Sep 24, 10:27*am, Maarten <b...@blah.comwrote:Google groups ate my reply from earlier it appears. Is that program
sending to STDOUT (I believe that is what exec() looks at)?

How about piping, can you do that in Mac OSX? ( ie $this=exec('discidBill H

On 24 Sep, 21:50, Bill H <b...@ts1000.uswrote:| is piping, is redirection.

On Sep 25, 6:31*am, Captain Paralytic <paul_laut...@yahoo.comwrote:You are right - I meant redirection

Bill H