diff --git a/__system.cpp b/__system.cpp
index 626d2e6..85435be 100644
--- a/__system.cpp
+++ b/__system.cpp
@@ -11,25 +11,16 @@ namespace jet {
    __system::__system(coreutils::ZString &in, coreutils::MString &parentOut, Global &global, Tag *parent) : Tag(in, parentOut, global, parent) {
       if(hasContainer)
 	throw coreutils::Exception("system tag cannot have a container.");	
-      if(!variableDefined(coreutils::ZString("pgm")))
-	throw coreutils::Exception("pgm keyword must be specified.");
-      argv[0] = variables["pgm"].c_str(); // TODO: Need to peel off the program name only and pass as argv[0].	   
-      for(ix = 1; ix <= 50; ++ix) {    
-	 coreutils::MString arg("arg");
-	 arg << ix;
-	 if(variableDefined(arg))
-	   argv[ix] = variables[arg].c_str();
-	 else
-	   break;
-      }
-      argv[ix] == NULL;      
+      if(!variableDefined(coreutils::ZString("cmd")))
+	throw coreutils::Exception("cmd keyword must be specified.");
       pipe(fdo);
       pid = fork();
       if(pid == 0) {
 	 close(fdo[0]);
 	 dup2(fdo[1], 1);
 	 if(variableDefined("input")) {
-	    coreutils::ZString input(variables[variables["input"]]);
+	    resolveKeyword("input");
+	    coreutils::ZString input(variables["input"]);
 	    pipe(fdi);
 	    if(fork() == 0) {
 	       close(fdi[0]);
@@ -37,12 +28,11 @@ namespace jet {
 	       close(fdi[1]);
 	       exit(0);
 	    }
-	    close(fdi[0]);
+	    close(fdi[1]);
 	    dup2(fdi[0], 0);
 	 }
-	 rc = execve(variables["pgm"].c_str(), argv, NULL);
+	 rc = system(variables["cmd"].c_str());
 	 close(fdo[1]);
-	 std::cout << "rc: " << rc << std::endl;
 	 exit(rc);
       }
       close(fdo[1]);
@@ -51,7 +41,9 @@ namespace jet {
       else 
 	out.read(fdo[0]);               
       waitpid(pid, &status, 0);
-      std::cout << "status: " << status << std::endl;
+      if(variableDefined("status"))
+	resolveKeyword("status");
+      global.variables[variables["status"]] = (status >> 8 & 255);
    }
    
 }
diff --git a/tests/testcall.jet b/tests/testcall.jet
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c993031
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testcall.jet
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!../jet-2.0
+<jet name1="localname" filterblanklines="true" trimlines="true">
+<set name="abc" value="abcdefg" />
+<call pgm="/usr/bin/cat" status="stat" input="$[abc]" name="test1" />
+test1=$[test1]
+name1=#[localname]
+status=$[stat]
+</jet>
diff --git a/tests/testsystem.jet b/tests/testsystem.jet
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8de0704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testsystem.jet
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!../jet-2.0
+<jet name1="localname" filterblanklines="true" trimlines="true">
+<set name="abc" value="abcdefg" />
+<system cmd="cat" status="stat" input="$[abc]xyz" name="test1" />
+test1=$[test1]
+name1=#[localname]
+status=$[stat]
+</jet>