Detach a process from an apache web request

gistfile1.php

<?php

/**
 * Detaches a process from apache so it can be invoked by a webpage but run
 * under CLI context.  Prevents apache from waiting for the process to
 * finish before displaying output.  All output is piped to null.
 *
 * @param string $process full path to executable / binary
 * @param string $arguments arguments passed to the script
 */
function detachProcess($process)
{
    if(stripos(php_uname(), 'Windows') !== false) {
        // Windows - from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2067900
        $WshShell = new COM("WScript.Shell");
        $oExec = $WshShell->Run(addslashes($process), 7, false);
        unset($WshShell, $oExec);
    }
    else {
        // Linux
        $command = "$process > /dev/null &";
        exec($command);
    }
}

?>