CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpapacheexe
user3629892
user3629892

Reputation: 3046

run exe file on apache server

Should it be possible to put an exe file on an apache server, send a text file via a php form, have the exe process the text file and then send the results back to the client?

Or is this generally not possible (if so, why)?

I looked around a bit but I havent really gotten a conclusive answer. Some say you should use the exe as a cgi script and some say it's only possible on a windows server.

Thanks!

EDIT

My code:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>
<head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<?php
echo exec('whoami');
echo exec("my.exe");
echo "<h1>Success</h1>";
?> 
</body>
</html>

Works locally. Should this also work on an apache server hosted by a webspace company? (provided that they didn't prohibit exec).

Upvotes: 2

Views: 4296

Answers (1)

Pedro Lobito
Pedro Lobito

Reputation: 98901

Or is this generally not possible (if so, why)?

There's no "generally", it depends on how apache is configured by your host provider. If you've a vps or a dedicated server the "generally" is what you want.

Some points to consider:

  1. Play safe and provide the full path to the exe, i.e.:

    exec("c:/someDir/my.exe");

  2. Make sure the user that apache's running under has permissions to execute the file;

  3. As you may already know, exe files run on windows systems, but not exclusively, they can run under Linux if you've wine installed;
  4. Consider using shell_exec instead of exec, why? shell_exec returns all of the output stream as a string. exec returns the last line of the output by default, but can provide all output as an array specified as the second parameter;

Upvotes: 5

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