exec a commandline program

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Ok, I have an image manipulation program that is run from commandline, I have never used exec before and I'm scared to becuase I don't want to mess up my server or anything.  Basically, I want people to be able to upload an image, then arrange for some manipulations to take place on the file in a temporary batch file, then use exec to run the program directly from the server.  The program is called nconvert.exe, and the main thing I want to do is convert DDS textures into BMP files, the command, from Windows "cmd" is:

 

nconvert -out bmp %1

 

%1 being the dds file to be manipulated.

 

How would I go about doing the exec part?  I know how to do the upload, but not the exec.  Can anyone help?

 

Thanks.

 

PS. nconvert.exe will be in the same directory as the upload page.

[trq]

<?php

  $f = 'filename.dds';
  exec("nconvert -out bmp $f");

?>

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Ok, so if I were doing this to an uploaded file that I did NOT want stored on my server, could I do this (inside the checks for upload_err, of course):

 

<?php
$f = $_FILES['imagefile']['tmpname'];
exec("nconvert -out bmp $f");
?>

 

Or should I use passthru to make it immediately prompt to download the file?

[trq]

That is one of passthru's intended uses yes.

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Ok, so now that I know that this should work, I'm gonna test it.  Wish me luck and thank you for your help.  If it works I'll come back and mark this as solved.

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Hmm, no go.  Here's the code I'm using:

 

switch ($_FILES['userfile']['error']) {
      case 0:
        $ext = strtolower(substr($_FILES['userfile']['name'], strrpos($_FILES['userfile']['name'], '.')+1, strlen($_FILES['userfile']['name'])));
        if($ext != "dds") {
          echo "You must upload only DDS textures<br /><br />";
          die(include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/footer.php'));
          }
        if(is_uploaded_file($_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'])) {
          $f = $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'];
          passthru("nconvert -out bmp $f");
          } else {
          echo "File upload failed.";
          }
        break;

 

It's not returning anything, no text, no file download dialog, nothing.  I don't know what wrong with it, I tried putting the exec command in an if to see if it worked:

 

if(passthru("nconvert -out bmp $f")) {
            echo "success";
            } else {
            echo "Fail";
            }

 

Nothing.

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

bump

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Uhm, bump.  I still need help with this.

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

BUMP!  God.