Getting PHP to run a Python script

Question

I am trying to run a Python program using PHP. Here's the code

$command = '/usr/local/bin/python script.py file';
$temp = exec($command, $output);

This works through the command line but not while running it through the browser. I am using Apache so probably it needs the right privileges? I am pretty new to Linux and have no idea how to get this working.

Any help would be appreciated!

Edit 1:

Tried to use proc_open but nothing happens. I gave the full path to the script. Made the script executable but no luck. Any other things I can try on the server? (It's a CentOS 5)

Answer 1

You need to pass the full path to the script and you also need to make sure that the script is readable by the user running the web server (which means every directory in the path must be +x to the web user).

Answer 2

Realized what was wrong:

1. The domain was set up as a virtual host and PHP's safe_mode was enabled. proc_open, exec, system, passthru etc. do not work under safe_mode I guess.

2. Put the script in the directory accessible by the vhost. Apache wasn't able to access the directories outside the vhost document root.

Thanks for the help!