Description:
------------
In the documentation of system(), exec(), shell_exec(), popen(),
passthru() and other external proces execution function there should be
the following notes:
1. All these functions does not execute the requested process directly:
they execute a shell (cmd.exe ? bash ? which criteria is used ?
%COMSPEC% in windows ?).
2. Executing the standard CMD.EXE in windows is not possible when
running as a non administrator user, so these function will fail in a
standard IIS environment, where the current PHP script is executed as
ISUR_MACHINENAME
3. The only secure way to execute a process in windows bypassing
cmd.exe, is to use the proc_open() function with the option
"bypass_shell"

Reproduce code:
---------------
---
From manual page: function.system
---
<?php
  passthru("ping www.hp.com");
?>

Expected result:
----------------
A typical ping output

Actual result:
--------------
Warning: passthru() [function.passthru]: Unable to fork [ping
www.hp.com] in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\prova.php on line 2

-

This bug has been fixed in the documentation's XML sources. Since the
online and downloadable versions of the documentation need some time
to get updated, we would like to ask you to be a bit patient.

Thank you for the report, and for helping us make our documentation
better.

Automatic comment from SVN on behalf of vrana
Revision: http://svn.php.net/viewvc/?view=revision&revision=290969
Log: Use cmd.exe on Windows (bug #48345)