php shell_exec() through cygwin

Question

I wrote a script that compiles LaTeX code through pdftex. The trouble is that pdftex only runs on linux.

I am accomplishing this task with the use of shell_exec().

I don’t really have the ability to set up a linux box as a web server. I have my client computer, but it is behind a firewall that I do not control. I do have control of my work server which is running SBS 2003 with a Windows 2000 virtual machine running apache and php. To my knowledge, you can’t install pdftex in Windows, and if you could it wouldn’t work with shell_exec().

Is there way to work around this with cygwin? I could install pdftex in cygwin, and then configure php to run shell_exec() commands inside of cygwin. If this is possible, could somebody point me in the right direction?

Also, I wonder if there is another course of action. I wouldn’t mind buying hosting, but any shared hosting plan isn’t going to support the app. It would have to be a virtual or dedicated hosting plan; something I can’t afford.

Answer 1

pdfTeX runs just fine on Windows, without requiring Cygwin. Try MiKTeX.

Answer 2

For anyone who is wondering about running shell_exec() through Cygwin, check out this link to a comment in the PHP manual:

http://us.php.net/manual/en/function.shell-exec.php#68647

 $result = shell_exec("C:\cygwin\bin\bash.exe --login  -c '/cygdrive/c/cygwin/bin/convert.exe --version'");

The key is the "--login" option which appends all the required common cygwin binary and library paths to $PATH. Without this option some of the cygwin binaries that links to other libraries ( Like ImageMagick binaries which links to X11 ) will not work and you may see errors like "cygX11-6.dll not found, Could not start convert.exe"