diff --git a/gooey/gui/containers/application.py b/gooey/gui/containers/application.py
index 768cf50..8fc2dc7 100644
--- a/gooey/gui/containers/application.py
+++ b/gooey/gui/containers/application.py
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ class GooeyApplication(wx.Frame):
         self.clientRunner = ProcessController(
             self.buildSpec.get('progress_regex'),
             self.buildSpec.get('progress_expr'),
-            self.buildSpec.get('encoding')
+            self.buildSpec.get('encoding'),
+            self.buildSpec.get('requires_shell'),
         )
 
         pub.subscribe(events.WINDOW_START, self.onStart)
diff --git a/gooey/gui/processor.py b/gooey/gui/processor.py
index 85ebfdf..4b7ef8a 100644
--- a/gooey/gui/processor.py
+++ b/gooey/gui/processor.py
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ from gooey.util.functional import unit, bind
 
 
 class ProcessController(object):
-    def __init__(self, progress_regex, progress_expr, encoding):
+    def __init__(self, progress_regex, progress_expr, encoding, shell=True):
         self._process = None
         self.progress_regex = progress_regex
         self.progress_expr = progress_expr
         self.encoding = encoding
         self.wasForcefullyStopped = False
+        self.shell_execution = shell
 
     def was_success(self):
         self._process.communicate()
@@ -46,12 +47,12 @@ class ProcessController(object):
             self._process = subprocess.Popen(
                 command.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()),
                 bufsize=1, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
-                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=True, env=env)
+                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=self.shell_execution, env=env)
         except:
             self._process = subprocess.Popen(
                 command,
                 bufsize=1, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
-                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=True, env=env)
+                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, shell=self.shell_execution, env=env)
         Pool(1).apply_async(self._forward_stdout, (self._process,))
 
     def _forward_stdout(self, process):
diff --git a/gooey/python_bindings/config_generator.py b/gooey/python_bindings/config_generator.py
index d641d2c..b56d4e9 100644
--- a/gooey/python_bindings/config_generator.py
+++ b/gooey/python_bindings/config_generator.py
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ def create_from_parser(parser, source_path, **kwargs):
         'poll_external_updates':kwargs.get('poll_external_updates', False),
         'return_to_config':     kwargs.get('return_to_config', False),
 
+        # debug
+        'requires_shell':       kwargs.get('requires_shell', True),
+
         # Legacy/Backward compatibility interop
         'use_legacy_titles':    kwargs.get('use_legacy_titles', True),
         'num_required_cols':    kwargs.get('required_cols', 1),