Using PECL without installing PEAR

Hi all, Following a discussion with Nikita, I understood that [installing PEAR with PHP is deprecated](https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/PHP-7.4/UPGRADING#L98-L101 <https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/PHP-7.4/UPGRADING#L98-L101>). However, installing PEAR is necessary for PECL to work (it uses PEAR). I started having a look at what could be done to use PECL without PEAR. This lead me to the following question: as a first step, would it make sense to provide PECL as a self-contained PHAR? That way users can download the PHAR and avoid install PEAR. Following that we can have a look at trimming the PECL package, but the PHAR would be a first step. Thanks Matthieu