Pear Core Minimal Laravel Package

Getting Started

This package provides a Composer-compatible, minimal subset of the legacy PEAR core infrastructure (e.g., PEAR.php, PEAR5.php, PEAR/Error.php). To start:

• Install via Composer: composer require pear/pear-core-minimal
• Locate core classes at vendor/pear/pear-core-minimal/ (e.g., PEAR.php, PEAR/Exception.php)
• No configuration required— Composer’s autoloader handles inclusion automatically.
• First use case: Migrating older PHP codebases that still rely on PEAR base classes (e.g., legacy PEAR packages like PEAR::raiseError(), or packages requiring PEAR_Config) without pulling the full monolithic PEAR installation.

Implementation Patterns

• Backward Compatibility Layer: Load PEAR.php explicitly if legacy code relies on it: require_once 'vendor/pear/pear-core-minimal/PEAR.php';
• Dependency for Other PEAR-Based Packages: Many older PEAR packages (e.g., Mail, MDB2, Auth_SASL) declare pear/pear-core in their composer.json—this minimal fork satisfies those requirements cleanly in modern Composer setups.
• Exception Handling: Use PEAR_Exception for consistent error handling in legacy PEAR-based libraries (still works with try/catch blocks), especially where PEAR::raiseError() was historically used.
• Phar/Phar-Unsupported Environments: Useful in stripped-down hosting or container environments where system PEAR is absent but PEAR classes are still referenced by dependencies.

Gotchas and Tips

• Autoloader Conflicts: If using modern namespaced frameworks (e.g., Symfony, Laravel), ensure no Composer autoloading collisions—this package defines only class files, not PSR-4 namespaces; it relies on PHP’s __autoload / spl_autoload_register fallback.
• Version Confusion: Despite the future release date (2026-01-25), this is likely a typo in metadata—verify actual source code date; treat as stable but unmaintained since PEAR itself is deprecated.
• Security Note: Avoid using PEAR classes in new code. This package exists only to unblock migration; actively refactor away from PEAR:: methods (e.g., use throw new Exception() instead of PEAR::raiseError()).
• Extension Point: If debugging fails, inspect PEAR::loadConfig() or PEAR_Config::singleton()—though limited, the minimal set includes config handling basics useful for tools like PEAR-installed PHPCS or PDepend.
• Fallback Dependency: If composer install fails due to pear/pear-core conflict, this package is often a drop-in replacement—edit your composer.json to require pear/pear-core-minimal instead.