exec(); works on nginx but not on apache2

trexos

Hello,

I have to VPS running with debian 6.0.7 64 bit. On one runs apache2 with php5 and on the other nginx with php-fpm. I created an exec.php file which contains that:

<?php echo "successfully!"; exec("mkdir test"); ?>

On nginx it works perfectly right out of the box. But I can't make it run on apache2 webserver. I checked my php.ini (under /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini) and safe mode is off and exec isn't listed unter disable_functions.

Why doesn't exec work on apache2?:(

Thanks!

SplitIce

most likely they both use different php.ini's one most likely dissalows exec. You say you have checked, do a diff and compare.

e.g
/etc/php5/php5-fpm/php.ini
and
/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

SpeedBus

change the file/folder ownership and check chmod ?

LES

any panel installed?

Adduc

Pipe stderr to stdout and echo the results of the command.

echo exec("mkdir test 2>&1");

This should assist you in identifying the issue.

Droidzone

@Zen said:
As everyone else said, probably using a different php configuration. That's the most common solution.

^
My control panel uses three different php.ini

Maybe do a find /etc -iname php\.ini -exec grep --color -in 'disable_function' {} \;

klikli

turn on verbose error messages? http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.error-reporting.php

trexos

@SplitIce said:
most likely they both use different php.ini's one most likely dissalows exec. You say you have checked, do a diff and compare.

e.g
/etc/php5/php5-fpm/php.ini
and
/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

I checked both and I don't find an option which is different and affects exec

@SpeedBus said:
change the file/folder ownership and check chmod ?

It tried it with root and www-data as owner, I also gave the php file 777 rights.

@LES said:
any panel installed?

No

@Adduc said:
Pipe stderr to stdout and echo the results of the command.

echo exec("mkdir test 2>&1");

This should assist you in identifying the issue.

It always says: "mkdir: cannot create directory `test': Permission denied"
No matter who is the owner or if it has 777 rights.

@joelgm said:
Maybe do a find /etc -iname php\.ini -exec grep --color -in 'disable_function' {} \;

As I don't use a panel, I think that won't help. But thanks!

@klikli said:
turn on verbose error messages? http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.error-reporting.php

I did this with the comman from Adduc, didn't I?

Thanks for your answers!

Adduc

It may be an SELinux permissions issue, if you're running RHEL or a derivative.

What's the output of sestatus ?

trexos

You mean just sestatus in putty?

Adduc

Yes

trexos

root@nyc:~# sestatus
-bash: sestatus: command not found

I use debian 6.0.7 btw. Maybe this command isn't available with debian.

awson

@trexos said:
I have to VPS running with debian 6.0.7 64 bit. On one runs apache2 with php5 and on the other nginx

Why not nginx on both?

trexos

Sure, I could install nginx on the other too. But altough I would like to know what I did wrong I'm new with linux and I think it's important to get it work

awson

I'm not into PHP so I don't know if exec() uses the relative directory, but try creating the full path, eg. with exec("mkdir /var/www/test"); or whatever.

trexos

Doesn't change anything but thanks

Corey

@trexos said:
Doesn't change anything but thanks

Think it has something to do with apache2 running under www-data and executing it as www-data and nginx runs as root.

Droidzone

Since it's exec alone that's affected, did you check phpinfo() to see if exec is enabled?

msg7086

@trexos said:
It always says: "mkdir: cannot create directory `test': Permission denied" No matter who is the owner or if it has 777 rights.

Is /var/www/ itself owned by www-data or with 777 permission?

Since you are modifying the parent directory.

trexos

@msg7086

This was it! I don't know why it works under nginx, but under apache2 you have to set the owner of /var/www/ as www-data (makes sense, the script has to have the right to create a folder. So I have set 777 and chown www-data:www-data to all files in /var/www/, but not to the folder www itself.

Thanks for all your answers!