Webstack - PHP pear

Created by: Lester Caine, Last modification: 3 September 2025

I should not have been suprised when pear stopped working after upgrading everything, or should that have been suprised that it was working at all in PHP8.4? The base package is on the PHP.net site but it is also included with the PHP8 package on tumbleweed, so perhaps I should simply be looking for the right links to PHP on the machines. The next problem is sorting out a list of modules that need loading, but I found the following crib sheet to make sure everything is tidy to start with.

  1. Clean cache and update package list:

    <code>pear clear-cache
pear update-channels
</code>

  2. Install required dependency package Archive_Tar manually:

    <code>pear install --force Archive_Tar
</code>

  3. Upgrade pear:

    <code>pear upgrade --force PEAR
</code>

  4. (optional step) List installed packages, upgrade-able packages and perform upgrade:

    <code>pear list
pear list-upgrades
pear upgrade
</code>

    In case of dependency failure just install it manually, as shown in #2.

So what modules did I load to shut up bitweaver ...

  1. Text_Wiki
  2. Text_Diff
  3. HTTP_Download
  4. HTTP_Header
  5. MIME_Type
  6. Auth
  7. Text_Wiki_BBCode
  8. Image_GraphViz

Another question perhaps is could the reliance of pear be removed. I only hit the problem with the LibertyPlugins page, which allows enabling things like the BBCode formating so personally I can trim those bits I will never use anyway. However while I may not test them, leaving them available for others seems logical.