2) fragmentation of error handling schemes (but I guess this can be lived with)
But it shouldn't have to be lived with. People shouldn't have to rewrite packages they want to use in order for their apps to have cohesive error handling. PEAR packages are OO objects; exceptions are IMO *the* accepted OO way to handle errors and they are BUILT INTO THE PHP LANGUAGE. I don't understand why PEAR, which makes all sorts of other prescriptions about sourcecode, wouldn't decide that its packages will use a unified error handling system -- especially when that system requires no external dependencies.
Hans