We have a website that updates numerous nodes nightly with an uploaded XML file. This XML file is then processed with Drupal's batch api, and when the XML file is uploaded manually, the script works perfectly. However, in real life, this XML file is uploaded programmatically by a script running on another server. Programmatically, the file gets uploaded and the batch begins properly, but on the successive redirects, the batch fails. This is because, the pseudo browser window from our publishing script closes.
Drush to the rescue
Luckily we have Drush installed on the server.