I am using shell_exec() to run perl program which takes more than an hour to complete a task by asking users to enter some values. I would like to run shell_exec() as a background program and refresh the summary page back to index page. I found some suggestions to use '2>/dev/null &' at the end of the shell_exec(), however, it is not working while running my index.php it stays on the same page with waiting sign.
If there is any other trick to handle such situation would also be awsome.
Any suggestion?