diff --git a/html/inc/btn_run_bu.php b/html/inc/btn_run_bu.php
index 80ac7be..beec13f 100644
--- a/html/inc/btn_run_bu.php
+++ b/html/inc/btn_run_bu.php
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
 	//we cannot fork using php inside apache for some stupid reason.
 	//so we need to deligate a fork to an external process. 
 	//BASH can do this with the background '&' command, so we use it.
-	
+
+	global $g_phpcli_path;
+
 	$output = array();
 	$result_code = null;	
 	$bIsTest = $testrun=='true';
@@ -19,12 +21,17 @@
 	// get realpath, cos this is what is specified in visudo:
 	//www-data ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/bin/run-bu-by-id.php *	
 	$path_to_script = realpath(__DIR__."/../bin/run-bu-by-id.php");
-	$command = "sudo php $path_to_script $buid $str_test";
+	$command = "sudo $g_phpcli_path $path_to_script $buid $str_test 2>&1";
+
+	//error_log("btn_run_bu to execute cmd: $command");
 	
 	if( exec( $command, $output, $result_code )===FALSE){
 		error_log( "exec to php-cli failed - command: $command");
 		return array('error', "exec to php-cli failed - command: $command" );
 	}
+
+	//error_log( print_r($output,true) );
+
 	//even though the script ran, it may have echoed errors to the console. We test here.
 	if( count($output)>0 ){
 		if( substr( $output[0], 0, 6) == 'Error:' ){
diff --git a/html/inc/bu-common.php b/html/inc/bu-common.php
index 7fd0c5a..29d14f7 100644
--- a/html/inc/bu-common.php
+++ b/html/inc/bu-common.php
@@ -124,9 +124,19 @@
 	$fn_e = getFilename_out( $buid, $bu_test, true );
 
 	// create the output files with the ID in the first line
-	exec("echo 'ID: $buid' > data/$fn_o");
-	exec("echo 'ID: $buid' > data/$fn_e");		
+	//exec("echo 'ID: $buid' > data/$fn_o");
+	//exec("echo 'ID: $buid' > data/$fn_e");		
 	
+	//error_log("Attempt to create file $fn_e");
+
+        file_put_contents("data/$fn_o","ID: $buid");
+	file_put_contents("data/$fn_e","ID: $buid");
+
+	if( !file_exists( "data/$fn_e" )){
+   	  //file_put_contents( "/var/www/www-root/data/www/backup-commander/html/data/err_out.txt", "failed to create file $fn_e" );
+	  return "exec failed to create file $fn_e";
+	}
+
 	$str_exPaths = '';
 	if(trim( $exFiles )!=''){
 		$fn_x = getFilename_tmp( $buid, 'x' );
diff --git a/html/inc/paths.php b/html/inc/paths.php
index f1bfd5b..084ccd7 100644
--- a/html/inc/paths.php
+++ b/html/inc/paths.php
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 <?php 
 $g_database_path = 'data/data.db';
+$g_phpcli_path = '/opt/php82/bin/php';
 ?>