All,
I'm really having a hard time making sense of PECL and PEAR. My
understanding is that PECL is for PHP extensions (written in C using the
extension API) and that PEAR is a repository of PHP modules (classes
written in PHP using the PEAR-approved "framework").
PEAR VS PECL COMMANDS
On my linux box, I find two separate commands:
* /usr/bin/pear
* /usr/bin/pecl
But these are actually shell scripts which just invoke PHP on the
following files:
* php ... /usr/lib/php/pearcmd.php
* php ... /usr/lib/php/peclcmd.php
But, when I dig even further, it looks like 'peclcmd.php' is just a
wrapper around 'pearcmd.php' and the only thing that is different is the
one-line define:
* define('PEAR_RUNTYPE', 'pecl');
So, basically at this point, everything is using the same script and a
small flag toggles the behavior. OK, that's fine.
SEARCH FOR MEMCACHE
I'm looking at an extension 'memcache' that I want to install. So I see
if there is either a class (PEAR) or and extension (PECL), right?
* pear search memcache
Retrieving data...0%....50%....no packages found that match
pattern "memcache"
* pecl search memcache
Retrieving data...0%....50%....Matched packages, channel pecl.php.net:
=======================================
Package Stable/(Latest) Local
memcache 2.0.1/(2.0.1 stable) memcached extension
So there's a PECL extension, but not a PEAR module. That's fine.
INSTALL MEMCACHE
* pear install memcache
No releases available for package "pear.php.net/memcache" -
package pecl/memcache can be installed with "pecl install memcache"
Cannot initialize 'memcache', invalid or missing package file
Package "memcache" is not valid
install failed
Right, I can't 'pear' install because this is a PECL thing, not a 'pear'
thing. Got it.
* pecl install memcache
...
install ok: channel://pear.php.net/memcache-2.0.1
Ok, that a little bit confusing because I did a PECL install, not a pear
install, but maybe pear and pecl both share the same domain name. I'll
ignore seeing pear in that URL, moving on...
CHECKING THAT IT'S INSTALLED
* pecl list
(no packages installed from channel pecl.php.net)
What? I JUST installed it, why isn't it in my list? Hmmm... I have
another idea:
* pear list
Installed packages, channel pear.php.net:
=========================================
Package Version State
Archive_Tar 1.3.1 stable
Console_Getargs 1.3.1 stable
Console_Getopt 1.2 stable
PEAR 1.4.6 stable
memcache 2.0.1 stable
Huh? I see my 'memcache' thing in the 'pear' list but not in the 'pecl'
list. So, did I install a PEAR thing or a PECL thing before? This is
weird. Let's go look at the file system:
* find /usr/lib/php -name 'memcache*'
/usr/lib/php/.registry/memcache.reg
/usr/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20050922/memcache.so
/usr/lib/php/doc/memcache
Well, it looks like memcache was installed successfully as a linux .so
(shared object), so it must be a pecl extension. No idea why it shows
up in the PEAR list and not the PECL list. I'm thinking it might have
something to do with that URL. Any insights you can provide?
Dante
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