PEAR频道为什么我需要一个？

Question

So I guess a PEAR channel is like a server that lets you distribute your own PEAR packages? I was under the impression PEAR was sort of dead, until I started looking at Symfony (is it dead? I haven't used it in the past so maybe someone with more experience in PHP can comment on its state and whether it makes sense to invest any time in it)

Anyway my question. Why do I need to set up my own PEAR channel? There's a page here maintained by the PEAR project http://pear.php.net/channels/ but it looks like it may be just a list of PEAR channels as opposed to a public PEAR channel. Are there easier alternatives than setting up my own PEAR channel?

Answer 1

PEAR is not dead. Symfony is not dead either.

A PEAR channel is just like a package repository for your favorite linux distribution.

If you are distributing a PHP library that others will find useful, you can set up your own PEAR channel and your users can use that to install/update/uninstall your library, using the pear tool they're already acquainted with.

You do not need to set up your own PEAR channel -- you distribute your own code however you like.

That said, if you're distributing library code for others to use, setting up your own channel is a nice way to do it.