I can confirm that the python subprocess api is a pain to use and also documented poorly. I recently had to use (no choice) python 2.5.x to write a script that

I can confirm that the python subprocess api is a pain to use and also documented poorly. I recently had to use (no choice) python 2.5.x to write a script that extensively called external programs and ran into several problems. It strange that a language such as python which I find so easy to use in many cases does not already have a good as in simple, safe and well documented subprocess api.