On my home server I'm trying to write a command line script that communicates with an SCGI (XML-RPC) server (rtorrent). Since it's really the only language that I'm any good at, I'd like to use PHP (php-cli that is). However, as I'm trying to find more information about how to do this, the only solutions that I can find use a webserver to redirect to the SCGI server. I'd like to avoid installing a webserver just to run a simple script, so I'm wondering if there are any ways to communicate with an SCGI directly in PHP.
I've found some Python scripts that do this, but I've never used Python and I'm not looking to learn another language.
So, can anybody point me to some resources that will help me get started on this?
The project rutorrent has a plugin that does just that. I use this software daily. It is pure PHP and very high quality from what I can tell. Your best bet is to read the source code of the plugin.
Edit: I read your question in more detail, and you are trying to communicate with rtorrent directly. That is exactly what rutorrent + HTTPRPC plugin does. In other words, this is a solved problem. Enjoy!