How Many Hosts Have PHP Exec() Disabled

My happiness with Innohosting (as a reseller) has come to a screeching halt when I found they've disabled exec(). This has sunk my plans to use Typo3 and Gallery for a website I'm creating for a client as they use Imagemagick through exec(). Rather than reconfigure them to use gdlib (possible?) instead, I'm inclined to look for a host that allows exec().

I've asked Innohosting about applying the PHP exec_dir patch found here:[url]

And discussed here:[url]

I'm waiting for them to get back to me. I hope it's a solution as Innohosting seem great otherwise.

Failing all else, how many hosts have PHP exec() disabled? Is this common?