compiling php with a working PEAR installation

On Fedora Linux 8. I have recently compiled php 5.2.4 with the following configure options. #! /bin/sh # # Created by configure './configure' \ '--with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache-2.2.6/bin/apxs' \ '--prefix=/usr/local/php-5.2.4' \ '--enable-shared=all' \ '--with-pear=/usr/local/PEAR' \ ... /usr/local is on a seperate partition. So anything on that partition should in theory survive an OS version upgrade. My question is this: When I recompile a newer version of php, eg. php 5.2.5, do I need to use '--without-pear' as a configure option, to stop the installation overwriting my fully configured PEAR installation, in /usr/local/PEAR? Or do I just leave php to install PEAR into the default location:

  --with-pear=DIR         Install PEAR in DIR [PREFIX/lib/php]

and then delete it after the installation has finished? I know that PEAR can get any updates to installed packages, and that it can also update itself once it is set up. I don't want to have to re-install and configure PEAR each time I recompile a newer version of php. Kind Regards & TIA Keith Roberts