m3bik Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I'm working on a light use/kiosk system. I have apache2 and php5 installed on Ubuntu 10.04 and I have the browser open the localhost web page by default. I would like to include a link on this page to open oowriter (open office writer) for the end user on the machine. I've tried exec('oowriter'); with no luck. I've also tried setting the DISPLAY value before the command like exec('DISPLAY=:0 oowriter'); with no success. I don't mind have the www-data user in the sudoers file if I have to sudo the command or something, but is this possible to do?? I'm not having any luck at all! Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 You might need to add the www-data user to the video group. What errors are you getting exactly? Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1295653 Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3bik Posted December 8, 2011 Author Share Posted December 8, 2011 Well I've verified that the error reporting is turned on, but I don't actually get any errors when loading the webpage.. I have tried adding the www-data to the video group with no luck. I've also tried adding the www-data user to the user group running on the desktop, but still nothing. I do have success running "php ./myfile.php" in the command line. It does open the application on the local user's screen.. but for some reason when I access the page on the web, I get nothing Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1295998 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kicken Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 You could try: putenv('DISPLAY=:0'); exec('oowriter'); Also, the server may be using a PATH which does not include where oowriter is at. Try using an absolute path to the file. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1296021 Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3bik Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 Thanks kicken! That did the trick! I did have to add the www-data user to the sudoers file because it wasn't working without "sudo" but here's my end result: putenv('DISPLAY=:0'); exec('sudo oowriter'); Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1296041 Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 I wouldn't be running oowritter as root. You've just opened a massive security hole. There is nothing stoping anyone editing any file on the system as root. You need to find out exactly what group www-data needs to be in and add them to it. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1296088 Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3bik Posted December 9, 2011 Author Share Posted December 9, 2011 Thanks for pointing that out, thorpe. I will look into it, but as a proof of concept sort of deal, I got it working.. That makes me happy. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1296406 Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3bik Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 As a reference here, I eventually changed the user that apache runs under to the user name in question.. and it works without sudo now. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1296469 Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Which user did you change it to? Not root I hope. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/252729-exec-open-application-for-local-user/#findComment-1296648 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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