ANONYMOUS wrote: I don't believe that you can, other than by repeating what execv() does from within your own code. As you've suggested, using the stat permissions only check if a permission bit is set - you could, for example, set execute permissions on an MS-Word document, but that wouldn't make it executable. Of note, the permission mode bits - read, write, and execute - are checked by certain system-calls (e.g. opening a file) but they provide a necessary condition, not a sufficient one.