PHP can read folder contents but not execute commands against files

[neilneil2000]

I have a server running Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) with Apache2 and PHP5 as installed from the repos.

 

I am trying to get this move cataloging software working: http://www.click-profits.com/code/filmdb/

 

The folder with the film is outside of the webroot, but the php script can still read it, as it populates the database correctly.  However it is unable to run any commands like "filemstat" on the files it finds.

 

I have tried running apache with the user who owns the folder and files but that doesn't help.

 

Also I have tried executing the code from the command line, and in this case, using www-data causes the same error, BUT if I run it at the command line with the user who owns the files it works without any problem.

 

I am not really sure what to try next.

 

This is undoubtedly a "n00b" error!