Run program's from Python

run_prog.py

def run_program(rcmd):
    """
    Runs a program, and it's paramters (e.g. rcmd="ls -lh /var/www")
    Returns output if successful, or None and logs error if not.
    """

    cmd = shlex.split(rcmd)
    executable = cmd[0]
    executable_options=cmd[1:]    

    try:
        proc  = Popen(([executable] + executable_options), stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
        response = proc.communicate()
        response_stdout, response_stderr = response[0], response[1]
    except OSError, e:
        if e.errno == errno.ENOENT:
            logging.debug( "Unable to locate '%s' program. Is it in your path?" % executable )
            return(-1, "Unable to locate '%s' program. Is it in your path?" % executable)
        else:
            logging.error( "O/S error occured when trying to run '%s': \"%s\"" % (executable, str(e)) )
            return(-1, "O/S error occured when trying to run '%s': \"%s\"" % (executable, str(e)) )

    except ValueError, e:
        logging.debug( "Value error occured. Check your parameters." )
    else:
        ret = proc.wait()
        if ret != 0:
            logging.debug( "Executable '%s' returned with the error: \"%s\"" %(executable,response_stderr) )
            return (ret,response_stderr.rstrip())
        else:
            logging.debug( "Executable '%s' returned successfully. First line of response was \"%s\"" %(executable, response_stdout.split('\n')[0] ))
            return (ret,response_stdout)