calling php script from C - pclose problem

Hello, Posted this message on php-general@lists.php.net and only received a very helpful suggestion to post here, thanks in advance for any additional help... Calling a php script from legacy c code using popen(), works great. Problem: when php script is done, pclose() in c code fails with ECHILD, No child process, wait4() failed. This is because the php script does not hang around to be wait'ed for; any idea how to make a command line php script behave like a normal child process that waits for its parent to get a status via a wait system call?