403 def _start_program(args: List[str], local_env: Dict[str, str]) -> subprocess.Popen:
404     """
405     Start the program where the path is the first item of the ``args`` array argument.
406
407     Parameters
408     ----------
409     args : List[str]
410         List of arguments to be passed to the program. The first list's item shall
411         be the program path.
412     local_env : Dict[str,str]
413         Environment variables to be passed to the program.
414
415     Returns
416     -------
417     subprocess.Popen
418         The subprocess object.
419     """
420      return subprocess.Popen(
421         args,
422         shell=os.name != "nt",
423         stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
424         stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
425         stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
426         env=local_env,
427      )
428 
429