How to run ROS commands from C++ application?

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(Original Author) want(s) to run ROS commands, like e.g. $ ROSCORE, from a C++ application. The following example does not work:

#include <stdlib.h>   
int main()    
{    
    system("/opt/ros/diamondback/ros/bin/roscore");  
    return 0;    
}

Execution results in the following message:

Traceback (most recent call last):    
  File "/opt/ros/diamondback/ros/bin/roscore", line 34, in <module>    
    from ros import roslaunch    
ImportError: No module named ros

Original Author was using Ubuntu 10.04.
Original Author notes that roscore successfully launches the master when executed from the command line