I've run into a couple odd issues with the shell command, this are specifically on Windows boxes, I haven't checked much on others. Further I've noticed them on PHP 4.2 and 4.3, no other versions have been tested.
Specifically, running shell commands for which a program might output a stderr instead of a stdout, or running shell commands on non-existant paths.
It seems the first can always be caught with output buffering. (check php.net for ob_start())
And it seems the later is capable of actually corrupting and deleting (unsetting) php variables, and is NOT consistent... it may pass muster for 75% of your tests, but I would not count on it being stable in a Windows environment.
Hope I save somebody some frustration.
-Rob
Specifically, running shell commands for which a program might output a stderr instead of a stdout, or running shell commands on non-existant paths.
It seems the first can always be caught with output buffering. (check php.net for ob_start())
And it seems the later is capable of actually corrupting and deleting (unsetting) php variables, and is NOT consistent... it may pass muster for 75% of your tests, but I would not count on it being stable in a Windows environment.
Hope I save somebody some frustration.
-Rob
