strange problem with os.system() call

[Wen Jiang]

hi,
I am having a really strange problem with os.system() call on a RedHat
6.2 system.

Here is the problem:

a simplge c program

main(int argc, char** argv){
	system("./mmy_rec");
}

this will work fine, "my_rec" runs.


but if I run it in python:

#!/usr/bin/env python	
import os
os.system("./testc")

this would immdediately core dumped at the point in the c program
system() call.

the debugging information says it crashed at the entry point for
"my_rec" main() function.

to make this problem more strange:

1. if I change the program "my_rec" to other programs, no problem at
all. I tried to compile "my_rec" with different compilers (gcc, g++,
pgcc), all crashed.

2. if I run the exact same thing on a Mandrake 8 system, no proble at
all.

3. if I use Perl, no problem ( I think this also uses the c system()
call)
open(CMD,"| my_rec")

4. I tried the Python 1.5.2 came with RedHat 6.2, and my own Python 2.1
compiled from the src package, both crashed.


I have tried to find out what execatly is going for this strange
problem, could any one give me some clue what the problem is?

Thanks,

Wen