expansion of proc_open fwrite and stream_*

proc_open() pipes: when stdout and stderr are set to file no resource pointers are returned in the pipes array when using fwrite on a pipe to stdin (from proc_open()) fflush() does not work, neither does stream_set_write_buffer(); regardless of whether stdout/stderr are mapped to pipes or files, infact in all my tests I cannot get php to return anything through stdout or stderr until fclose on stdin has occured, even then support for stream_get_meta_data seems to be distinctly lacking. Perhaps there is a method I am missing however support for multiple process read/writes seems a little lacking (impossible?), and in my opinion should/could be expanded. Suggestions/Thoughts?