how the new pecl.php.net channel will work - IMPORTANT

Hi, I'm in the final stages of confirming the split of pear.php.net from pecl.php.net in terms of installation. This will have many benefits for the users. First off, pear list will by default list PEAR packages, and pecl list will list PECL packages. I've successfully coded upgrading cross-channel, so old PECL packages that use package.xml 1.0 (which is always pear.php.net channel) can seamlessly upgrade to new package.xml 2.0's that are pecl.php.net channel. upgrade-all will also work seamlessly. Here's the tricky part. The way release uploads work will change very shortly. I'm about to commit code this week that will prevent pecl packages from being uploaded using the pear.php.net interface. pecl.php.net will be the only place you can upload them. In addition, package.xml 2.0 will be required to take advantage of any of the new features. Note that package.xml 1.0 is *not* subject to the limitations I described above, and will be available for pecl packages to use ad infinitum. However, it is crucial that pecl start using package.xml 2.0 the instant PEAR 1.4.0 hits the stable mark. One of the most obvious reasons are that binary packages are possible, so windows users can install pecl packages using the pecl command. More importantly, the lists I spoke of (separate package listings for PEAR and PECL packages using the pear and pecl commands) will not happen without the use of package.xml 2.0. The single most important benefit is that complex extensions like PDO will be able to take advantage of huge improvements in dependencies for packages. The pearinstaller dep can be used to require a PEAR installer version without a confusing dependency on PEAR, a package dependency for PDO_mysql can be used to install without having PDO enabled in php.ini. So, PECLGen and ext_skel will need to be updated to create a package.xml 2.0 very soon. I'm at your disposal for any questions about how this will work. It will affect every pecl developer, so I'd like to get this right the first time around. Thanks, Greg