My first PHP shell script.

Alright, so I decided to write my first PHP shell script. I've heard of other people doing it and figured what the hell - it's the freshest in my mind right now and it'll be relatively quick to prototype. Bear in mind this is running on a production webserver with various bits of security stuff strewn throughout the php.ini.

I get it working (mostly) and get up to the point where I actually need to access/manipulate a file and I get *SMACKED* in the face with an open_basedir restriction. Goddamnit.

I check the ini_set page for the scope and sure enough: PHP_SYSTEM. What do I do now? Break out the perl & DBI?