This module contains an interface to those functions defined in the IEEE 1003.1 (POSIX.1) standards document which are not accessible through other means. POSIX.1 for example defined the open(), read(), write() and close() functions, too, which traditionally have been part of PHP 3 for a long time. Some more system specific functions have not been available before, though, and this module tries to remedy this by providing easy access to these functions.
Sensitive data can be retrieved with the POSIX functions, e.g. posix_getpwnam() and friends. None of the POSIX function perform any kind of access checking when safe mode is enabled. It's therefore strongly advised to disable the POSIX extension at all (use --disable-posix in your configure line) if you're operating in such an environment.
Note: 本扩展模块在 Windows 平台下不可用。
POSIX functions are enabled by default. You can disable POSIX-like functions with --disable-posix.
以下常量由本扩展模块定义,因此只有在本扩展模块被编译到 PHP 中,或者在运行时被动态加载后才有效。
Note: These constants are available since PHP 5.1.0. Please also note that some of them may not be available in your system.
The section about Process Control Functions maybe of interest for you.