Recently, there has been quite a bit of discussion surrounding this topic and I have immersed myself in research over the past few days.
When running the PHP script that executes the Python script from the command line, everything functions properly (showing 'whoami' as the customer name). However, when attempting to run the PHP script in a browser, it fails (displaying 'whoami' as www-data). This issue persists regardless of the owner of both scripts, the method used to run the script in PHP (such as exec or system), and after checking php.ini for any possible interference.
If I move the PHP script to the root directory, it seems willing to execute the Python script but then encounters difficulties locating the SSH folder necessary for certain operations within the Python script.
It appears that the problem lies with permissions. Both the Python script and the PHP script can be executed successfully from the command line, carrying out their intended tasks (connecting via SSH to a Git server and performing various actions).
As this is a customer server, my capabilities are limited. It would be much more convenient to have a button in the browser triggering these actions rather than directing the customer to the command line.
Before resigning myself to defeat, I am reaching out to see if anyone else has encountered a similar scenario and found a resolution.