How to launch unoconv from php file - php

Question

I want to launch the command "unoconv" from a script php.
$command = '/usr/bin/unoconv --server localhost --port 2002 --format=pdf file.rtf >/dev/null 2>/dev/null';
$rc = system( $command );
echo $rc;
The command return no result and the file is not created.
I think is a problem from access with www-data and unoconv.
When I'm launching the command in shell, the file is created.
Any idea?

Answer 1

You can add command unoconv to sudoers.
I do this in this way:
I create wrapper bash script in for example /usr/local/bin where I have command unoconv.
#!/bin/bash
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
echo "Must pass file";
exit 10;
fi
/usr/bin/unoconv -f pdf $1.rtf
after this I adding entry in /etc/sudoers.d:
www-data ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/local/bin/unoconv.sh
And now you can call script in php:
exec('sudo /usr/local/bin/unoconv.sh '.$fileName);

Answer 2

Try to run
$output = `/usr/bin/unoconv --server localhost --port 2002 --format=pdf file.rtf`;
instead and see error messages.

Answer 3

For me works like this:
$cmd = "/usr/bin/unoconv -f docx files/thefile";
shell_exec($cmd);
of course you have to do this previously (if you lounch your php script from the web):
chown -R www-data:www-data files/

Answer 4

I have found a solution to this problem when running Apache. You have to create the home folder for the www-data user
sudo mkdir /home/www-data
sudo chown www-data /home/www-data
Lastly we will have to edit the home directory and default shell for the www-data user
sudo vim /etc/passwd
For the entry of www-data the last two strings have to be replaced respectively with
/home/www-data
/bin/bash

Answer 5

Simple as this
$output = shell_exec('/opt/libreoffice5.0/program/python unoconv -f rtf test.html');
Edit the path to suite your configuration.
It just works!

Answer 6

You may be running into an issue with LibreOffice, OpenOffice or soffice not being able to write to the current user's $HOME directory.
By running the command below I was able to identify the correct $HOME directory and see the error that was being generated.
$cmd = 'echo $HOME & unoconv -vvvv --format %s --output %s %s 2>/tmp/unoconv.debug.txt';
exec($cmd);
The verbose output of $cmd will be generated written to the file: /tmp/unoconv.debug.txt.
In my case the output was:
Verbosity set to level 5
DEBUG: Connection type: socket,host=127.0.0.1,port=2002,tcpNoDelay=1;urp;StarOffice.ComponentContext
DEBUG: Existing listener not found.
DEBUG: Launching our own listener using /usr/lib64/libreoffice/program/soffice.bin.
Failed to connect to /usr/lib64/libreoffice/program/soffice.bin (pid=32012) in 6 seconds.
Connector : couldn't connect to socket (Success)
Error: Unable to connect or start own listener. Aborting.
The command ran seemed to fine as root, and as sudo -u nobody. On seeing this output I realized there was an issue with the home directory.
Kudos to Dag Wieers for his help - I'm hoping this helps other unoconv devs with their debugging.