asynchonous PHP WITHOUT shelling?

i need to start a php script asynchronously from a php script. i don't care if it's in the same file, or a different file.

here's the php info page for my host:
http://picnictoimpeach.us/check_info.php5

i don't have shell access on my shared hosting service. apparently, this is why the following does not work:

<?php

$myhandle = pclose(popen("http://picnictoimpeach.us/remote.php5"));

?> 

PHP:

 

Use curl with curl_multi_init();

Use the following as a reference, the following allows you to download multiple files simultaneously, adjust it to your needs.

<?php
 
$urls=array(
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/12-lessons-for-those-afraid-of-css.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/27-request-methods-for-use-with-apache-and-rewritecond-and-htaccess.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/301-redirect-with-mod_rewrite-or-redirectmatch.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/404-errorpages.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/503-service-temporarily-unavailable.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/adsense-robots.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/alexa-toolbar-firefox.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/allowing-access-from-1-static-ip-and-deny-the-rest.mp3',
'http://f.askapache.com/mp3/apache-authentication-in-htaccess.mp3');
 
$save_to='/home/user/htdocs/mp3/';
 
$mh = curl_multi_init();
foreach ($urls as $i => $url) {
    $g=$save_to.basename($url);
    if(!is_file($g)){
        $conn[$i]=curl_init($url);
        $fp[$i]=fopen ($g, "w");
        curl_setopt ($conn[$i], CURLOPT_FILE, $fp[$i]);
        curl_setopt ($conn[$i], CURLOPT_HEADER ,0);
        curl_setopt($conn[$i],CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT,60);
        curl_multi_add_handle ($mh,$conn[$i]);
    }
}
do {
    $n=curl_multi_exec($mh,$active);
}
while ($active);
foreach ($urls as $i => $url) {
    curl_multi_remove_handle($mh,$conn[$i]);
    curl_close($conn[$i]);
    fclose ($fp[$i]);
}
curl_multi_close($mh);
?>

PHP:

 

My calling page needs php to return to it immediately after the print statement, but it doesn't. It waits until the curl code completes.

how can i exit this php script immediately after executing the external php, without waiting for the external process to complete?

<?php

print file_get_contents("http://picnictoimpeach.us/videos/playlist.xml");


// create cURL resource
$ch1 = curl_init();

// set URL and other appropriate options
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_URL, "http://picnictoimpeach.us/remote.php5");
curl_setopt($ch1, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);

//create the multiple cURL handle
$mh = curl_multi_init();

//add the handle
curl_multi_add_handle($mh,$ch1);

$running=null;
//execute the handle
do {
    curl_multi_exec($mh,$running);
} while ($running > 0);

//close the handle
curl_multi_remove_handle($mh,$ch1);
curl_multi_close($mh);

?>

PHP:

 

this is not asynchronous enough either

<?php

print file_get_contents("http://picnictoimpeach.us/videos/playlist.xml");


   $curl = curl_init();
   curl_setopt ($curl, CURLOPT_URL, "http://picnictoimpeach.us/remote.php5");
   curl_exec ($curl);
   curl_close ($curl);

?>

PHP:

 

i'm wondering if the problem is that $curl is a local variable handle on the curl process, and that once this script exits, $curl dies because it goes out of scope. is that true?