PGP signing text from called from PHP

Using PHP 4.1.2 I need to PGP sign a piece of text and detached the signature. I have read a lot in the archives and and about the better exec() calls in 4.3. However I cannot find a reference that indicates the best way to pass a set of arguments out of a PHP script to PGP. I need to use pgp2.6.3i the pgp command line looks like a bit this pgp -sabf -u "pgpuser" "pgppassphrase" <"text" >"pgpsignature" This has to be given to the Bash Shell with whatever works exec() system() or passthrough(), any output can be retrieved later . It is possible, if anyone knows how, to set ENV variable in the shell to preload the passphrase and the pgpuser into ENV variables. Has anyone cracked this? Any pointers to archived messages I have missed. Any suggestions at all would be most welcome. {R}