PHP exec command runs python script but not python3

Question

I currently have python 2.7 installed as part of OSX, and recently installed 3.5.2.

I'm running a local webserver on my mac using XAMPP, and when I execute the python script from within apache, it loads fine:

$executePython = "python " . __DIR__ . "/cycle/cutoff.py $device_id $processPreviousMinutes";
exec("$executePython");

However, when I replace python with python3 my script refuses to run. I can invoke it manually from the command line using both versions, however it seems like the apache account/daemon doesn't have access to python3. Would this be something to do with a configuration file that I've overlooked?

• vitr: could you just compare the permissions/user groups for python and python3 and answer your own question?
• ugotchi: checking the sharing and permissions for python2.7 and python3.5 executables reveals that they are exactly the same. any further ideas?
• vitr: I see, what exactly you got, when you tried to run 'python3` from php? must be some error message etc.
• ugotchi: I appended the $executePython command with >>/tmp/errorlog.log 2>&1 and received sh: python3: command not found when apache is running as daemon user. When I hardcode the path to /usr/local/bin/python3 it runs! However, I'd like to specify just python3, so how does one do this?
• ugotchi: when I echo $PATH I get: /usr/local/bin /usr/bin /bin /usr/sbin /sbin /usr/local/git/bin so my own account can just run python3 from anywhere, but the apache daemon account can't (but it can run python).

Answer 1

We don't want to mess up with the system wide path on the latest OSX. What if you add the python3 path in your script like this and then do your normal stuff

putenv("PATH=/usr/local/bin/:" . exec('echo $PATH'));
$executePython = "python3 " . __DIR__ . "/cycle/cutoff.py $device_id $processPreviousMinutes";
exec("$executePython");

putenv just adds your python3 path to the whatever current path is in your XAMPP's apache.