Run .jar from PHP

linuxlychallenged · 12-07-2009, 04:15 PM

Ok so I am trying to execute a .jar file from php being run on apache (which is running on Red Hat Enterprise 9). It doesn't do anything. It is supposed to create a results file but it does nothing. I created a test php page that only has

Code:

shell_exec("/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_17/bin/java -cp /home/me/public_html/AGD/AGDMethod.jar -jar /home/me/public_html/AGD/AGDMethod.jar -R 2 -I 150 -T 0.00001 -C 2 -P /home/me/public_html/AGD/Datalehlh6c081dp9es1nfeodear04/textarea.1260163169");

and an echo statement.

I have spent hours on google trying to find the answer but I'm clueless. The above command runs from the command line so it has something to do with it being run from apache. I read somewhere about needing to modify a PATH variable for the apache user but I don't know how/where to change that, and I thought by including the whole /usr/java stuff would satisfy that. Also I read about using -cp to specify the class path so I included the -cp /home/me stuff and it still didn't help when running it from php.

other variations of the code I have tried

Code:

shell_exec("java -jar AGDMethod.jar -R 2 -I 150 -T 0.00001 -C 2 -P ./Datalehlh6c081dp9es1nfeodear04/textarea.1260163169");

the .jar is in the same location as the index.php and test.php calling it so I thought it would work that way

Code:

shell_exec("java -jar /home/me/public_html/AGD/AGDMethod.jar -R 2 -I 150 -T 0.00001 -C 2 -P /home/me/public_html/AGD/Datalehlh6c081dp9es1nfeodear04/textarea.1260163169");

Code:

shell_exec("/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_17/bin/java -jar /home/me/public_html/AGD/AGDMethod.jar -R 2 -I 150 -T 0.00001 -C 2 -P /home/me/public_html/AGD/Datalehlh6c081dp9es1nfeodear04/textarea.1260163169");

I can make any changes necessary I just don't know what to change.

Thanks in advance for any help

EDIT- someone or something changed something because now we cannot run java from apache at all (it can be run on the server from command line though)

Komakino · 12-09-2009, 12:48 PM

Can apache actually 'see' your java directory? Apache might be running in some sort of chroot jail. By 'chroot jail' I mean: if, for example, you run 'chroot /home/steve' then /home/steve becomes the root (/) folder. This in turn means that you can't cd back past /home/steve because there is nothing higher up that than, as far as your user / session is concerned.

So, imagine apache is chroot'd to /var/www, when it looks for /usr/java/jdk1.6.0_17/bin/java it's actually looking for /var/www/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_17/bin/java and I'm betting that doesn't exist.

This: http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap29sec254.html explains it better.

I don't know if that IS your problem, but it's a suggestion.

Komakino · 12-09-2009, 12:57 PM

Also, don't forget that when apache is running (or trying to run) java, it is not being run as your regular user, but as the apache user (usually something like www-data). Can this user execute java?

linuxlychallenged · 12-09-2009, 02:13 PM

How can I check these two to see if they are happening? I have another program running on a different section of the website that executes a java program and it works correctly. It calls

Code:

shell_exec("/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_17/bin/java -cp $folderName sortSequence $folderName/$NC.ffn.gcData.tmp");

the only difference I see is in calling java with the -jar. I think the fact that the above line works in another page means that it has permission to run java and that it's not in a chroot jail right?

Komakino · 12-09-2009, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxlychallenged

How can I check these two to see if they are happening? I have another program running on a different section of the website that executes a java program and it works correctly. It calls

Code:

shell_exec("/usr/java/jdk1.6.0_17/bin/java -cp $folderName sortSequence $folderName/$NC.ffn.gcData.tmp");

the only difference I see is in calling java with the -jar. I think the fact that the above line works in another page means that it has permission to run java and that it's not in a chroot jail right?

Yes, I would think so. So that does bring us back to why it can't run the jar...I'll have a think. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas too.

linuxlychallenged · 12-14-2009, 03:50 PM

OK, so new information. I think that we may not be able to run any java from within a PHP page but we can still run it from command line though. I think an update or another user may have changed something. Any ideas from the standpoint this standpoint?

linuxlychallenged · 12-19-2009, 12:31 PM

Any chance that anyone has any advice for getting java to run through apache?

linuxlychallenged · 01-27-2010, 12:04 PM

update: java can be called from the other program, so I'm still lost