Php Exec timeout

exec() function handle outputs from your executed program, so I suggest you to redirect outputs to /dev/null (a virtual writable file, that automatically loose every data you write in).

Try to run :

exec("/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/gooffers/somefile.php > /dev/null 2>&1 &");

Note : 2>&1 redirects error output to standard output, and > /dev/null redirects standard output to that virtual file.

If you have still difficulties, you can create a script that just execute other scripts. exec() follows a process when it is doing a task, but releases when the task is finished. if the executed script just executes another one, the task is very quick and exec is released the same way.

Let's see an implementation. Create a exec.php that contains :

<?php

  if (count($argv) == 1)
  {
    die('You must give a script to exec...');
  }
  array_shift($argv);
  $cmd = '/usr/local/bin/php -q';
  foreach ($argv as $arg)
  {
     $cmd .= " " . escapeshellarg($arg);
  }
  exec("{$cmd} > /dev/null 2>&1 &");

?>

Now, run the following command :

exec("/usr/local/bin/php -q exec.php /home/gooffers/somefile.php > /dev/null 2>&1 &");

If you have arguments, you can give them too :

exec("/usr/local/bin/php -q exec.php /home/gooffers/somefile.php x y z > /dev/null 2>&1 &");