How to enable exec()

To enable exec() function, you have to modify php settings using a php.ini file.

1. Open php.ini file and search for disable_functions exec
2. Delete “exec” from disable_functions

   disable_functions = "show_source,system, shell_exec,exec"

3. Save the changes and reboot server.

That’s it!

Caution:

When a PHP script is hacked, the hacker can use the exec function to cause further issues. However, exec function itself is not dangerous.

Note:

OJS needs exec function for extracting text from PDFs for search indexing etc.