diff --git a/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/ExecManager.java b/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/ExecManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cdbf9b96f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proposal/myrmidon/src/java/org/apache/myrmidon/framework/exec/ExecManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) The Apache Software Foundation. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This software is published under the terms of the Apache Software License
+ * version 1.1, a copy of which has been included  with this distribution in
+ * the LICENSE.txt file.
+ */
+package org.apache.myrmidon.framework.exec;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import org.apache.myrmidon.api.TaskException;
+
+/**
+ * Interface via which clients can request that a native
+ * process be executed. This manages all aspects of running
+ * a native command including such things as;
+ *
+ * <ul>
+ *   <li>Destroying a process if it times out</li>
+ *   <li>Reading data from supplied input stream and
+ *       writing it to processes standard input</li>
+ *   <li>Reading data from processes standard output
+ *       and error streams and writing it to supplied
+ *       streams</li>
+ * </ul>
+ *
+ * @author <a href="mailto:peter@apache.org">Peter Donald</a>
+ * @version $Revision$ $Date$
+ */
+public interface ExecManager
+{
+    /**
+     * Execute a process and wait for it to finish before
+     * returning.
+     *
+     * @param  execMetaData the metaData for native command to execute
+     * @param  input the stream to read from and write to standard input.
+     *         May be null in which case nothing will be written to standard.
+     *         input
+     * @param  output the stream to write the processes standard output to.
+     *         May be null in which case that output will go into the void.
+     * @param  error the stream to write the processes standard error to.
+     *         May be null in which case that error will go into the void.
+     * @param  timeout the maximum duration in milliseconds that a process
+     *         can execute. The value must be positive or zero. If it is zero
+     *         then the process will not timeout. If the process times out it
+     *         will be forcibly shutdown and a TimeoutException thrown
+     */
+    int execute( ExecMetaData execMetaData,
+                 InputStream input,
+                 OutputStream output,
+                 OutputStream error,
+                 long timeout )
+        throws IOException, TaskException /*TimeoutException*/;
+}