CHAPTER 15 ■ AN INTRODUCTION TO PEAR AND PYRUS
Figure 15–2. A Channel Package Page
Summary
PEAR is extensive almost by definition, and I have only had space to provide an introduction here.
Nevertheless, you should leave this chapter with a sense of how easy it is to leverage PEAR packages to
add power to your projects. Through the package.xml file, the PEAR installer (and Pyrus, its future
replacement), you can also make your code accessible to other users. By setting up a channel, you can
automate dependency downloads for your users and allow third-party packages to use yours without the
need for bundling or complicated dependency management.
PEAR is best suited for relatively self-enclosed packages with well-defined functionality. For larger
applications, other build solutions come into their own. We will be looking at Phing, a powerful tool for
building applications, later in the book.