Req #26566 [Opn->Ana]: Why does EXEC() have to use CMD.EXE

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=26566&edit=1 ID: 26566 Updated by: kalle@php.net Reported by: taomyn at hotmail dot com Summary: Why does EXEC() have to use CMD.EXE -Status: Open +Status: Analyzed Type: Feature/Change Request Package: *General Issues Operating System: Windows -PHP Version: 7.0 +PHP Version: * Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: Changing this to any version, as the BC break should be low enough to be allowed to be introduced in a x.z release Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2015-01-01 16:51:07] tyrael@php.net we already have bypass_shell for proc_open, we could do something similar for exec (or just document this better and advise people on windows to use proc_open if they don't want the additional cmd.exe to be executed). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-12-10 03:13:58] taomyn at hotmail dot com Perhaps you could create a new function, or even add an extra optional boolean parameter to EXEC() that would when "true" would not use CMD.EXE? E.g. $no_cmd = true; EXEC("c:\\winnt\\notepad.exe", $result, $status, $no_cmd); This wouldn't break old code? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-12-09 16:50:48] wez@php.net Because we use it as the shell to launch not only external processes, but built-in commands such as dir that are not found in separate binaries. I can see the use, but can't see how to implement it without breaking backwards compatibility. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2003-12-09 16:34:56] taomyn at hotmail dot com Description: ------------ Why does EXEC() have to spawn an extra CMD.EXE when executing a program? For example, to execute NOTEPAD.EXE, WORDPAD.EXE, even ImageMagicks CONVERT.EXE, when called with EXEC() causes a CMD.EXE process to executed which then calls the program requested. It's not needed. Please can we have a version of EXEC that does not use CMD.EXE? It's not always needed and can cause major issues such as hanging sessions and hanging web services. A prime example are users of Gallery by http://gallery.menalto.com - many of their Windows users have this issue which is why they do not "officially" support Windows when it should work. Thanks, Taomyn Reproduce code: --------------- Call any Windows program with EXEC() and you get a CMD.EXE process that then calls the requested program. E.g. exec("c:\\winnt\\notepad.exe",$result,$status); Expected result: ---------------- Only NOTEPAD.EXE should appear. Actual result: -------------- "CMD.EXE /C NOTEPAD.EXE" and "NOTEPAD.EXE" appears in the process list ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=26566&edit=1