I'm working on a better var_dump (http://mediabeez.ws/htmlMicroscope/, LGPL), and want to launch my kate editor when i click in the browser on a line in my trace-log. I'm trying to exec() this line, but it returns 1 (which is i believe a general error) echo "eeeehhh" | sudo -u rene -S /bin/sh -c "export HOME=/home/rene/ && kate -l 21 -u /media/500gb/data2/www/htdocs/naaah/maintenance/maintenanceLogic.php" if i open a terminal, do sudo su www-data and then execute the line above, then kate actually jumps to the right file, or opens it, etc. but from the browser, it won't work. exec($str,$o,$r); $r===1. i could use some help here..