Re: [PATCH] Bug #34671 Incorrect calling convention to cmd.exe

Wez Furlong wrote: > Is it possible that switching /S on will break existing scripts? > If so, it's probably better to make the comspec setting a PHP .ini > option that only the admin can change and allow /S to be set there. > > --Wez. Well, the patch doesn't just use /S, it also automatically encloses the argument in double-quotes. It will break workarounds where people have put those double quotes in manually. This was the workaround suggested on bug 34671. It's also the workaround we'll be using in MediaWiki until this patch is applied, and then after it's applied we'll have to put a version switch in. I'm interested in seeing this patch applied in the hopes that years from now, programmers will be able to use shell_exec() on Windows without going through the same tortuous route I went through to determine why it doesn't work and how to make it work. Reading 50 screenfuls of manual comments didn't help. Speaking of which, it would be great if the manual could be amended to precisely document the pre-patch (or compatibility-mode) and post-patch behaviour of the program execution functions. A comspec setting would be nice for people wanting to use, say, cygwin bash as a command interpreter. But to switch automatic quoting and /S on and off, I think you would need a compatibility mode flag. One that's zero to indicate compatibility, so that you can pull a trick like this to get version-independent code: if (ini_get('windows_shell_quoting')) { $result = shell_exec($cmd); } else { $result = shell_exec(ugly_hack($cmd)); } The same php.ini option could put escapeshellarg() into a windows-compatible mode. Maybe I should submit that patch too, for completeness. -- Tim Starling