Re: Trying to install PEAR is a Fr3@K!n nightmare

I, too, have been having problems trying to install PEAR on my Win98 system. I have been tracking this newsgroup since March in the hope that someone will sort something out. I have asked for help and advice, but received nothing workable. Following the latest correspondence I have again downloaded the latest in PHP - php-4.3.2 - and installed it. I am using Apache 2.0.43, and am about to upgrade to 2.0.46. I ran go-pear.php under Apache, and it crashed the machine, as before. I went back to the command line and ran it from there, and it crashed the machine, as before. I inserted print statenments in likely places [I have previously asked how to trace php execution, and have had no response: can no-one tell me?] and traced the crash, (at least the crash from the command-line,) to execution of the statement $php_bin_sapi = win32DetectPHPSAPI(); at line 331. Now, this is a fresh installation of PHP. I would appreciate some comments as to why this should crash. I sympathise deeply with the 'ranting tone' of some correspondents. My first complaint was that pear-install insisted in mis-locating objects under C:\php4 despite my instructions to the contrary; only later installations crashed. Putting things in the wrong place is bad, but as things mature one expects improvements, not General Protection Faults. The occurence of GPFs is deeply worrying at this stage of development, and does not engender confidence. - Roger C Haslock - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Terence Kearns" <tkearns@fastmail.fm> To: "LIMBOURG Arnaud" <arnaud.limbourg.prestataire@cegetel.fr> Cc: "Joseph Blythe" <joseph@optcom.net.au>; "Pear-General (E-mail)" <pear-general@lists.php.net> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 8:52 AM Subject: Re: [PEAR] Trying to install PEAR is a Fr3@K!n nightmare > LIMBOURG Arnaud wrote: > > > > Fair enough, but like you said, "it is not always the same for > > > everyone". For some people it would be easier to have individual > > > packages available to them as archives which they could easily deploy > > > when the install process does not work for them. I sincerely > > > doubt that > > > I am the first to experience problems with this install "process". > > > > The tar files are available on pear.php.net. The thing is that it is > > not as simple as untar the package in a specific directory. This is > > where the pear installer is useful because it installs the files where > > they are supposed to be. > > > I found the tgz downloads under the Package Browser section. I didn't > find this before so I must appologize for ranting about not being able > to access packages as archives. > > > Added to that you rant a lot but you didn't specify OS/PHP versions, > > we can help but we need information. From your other mail i gather you > > are on windows. Using pear package package.xml creates an tar file of > > the package sources. It is not the command to use to download. Try > > pear without any arguments to get help. > > > > Arnaud. > > > I realise that command only creates the tar file, that is what I wanted. > Apparently, once you have the tar file, you can run pear with the > install directive to install it. > The problem is that the package command did not work with pear in the > first place. Anyway, now that I found the tgz archives, I tried pear > install foo.tgz but I get the same problem where you don't get your > command prompt back so there is something wrong witht he pear command > itself. > But like you said, the main issue is that it is not as simple as untar > the package in a specific directory is again, so installation is still > problematic. In fact, it is highly frustrating. > > I realise the "rant" tone is probably not the best but it is indicative > of the level of frustration. I'm just providing some feedback on my > experience with the pear install process. What people choose to do with > the information is entirely up to them. I do not expect the world to > change for to suit me, I'm just providing the information. I hope no one > takes it personally. None the less, I've spent quite a bit of effort on > this so it's not for lack of trying that I've found the pear install > system to be highly frustrating. I honestly think that in some cases, > this install thing places a barrier between the pear repository and > potential uses**. Problem is that many people don't raise any issues, > they just give up and move on. I remember doing just that some months > ago and also a year or two ago. This is like my 3rd or 4th attempt to > actively use PEAR. In the early days I remember posting to this list for > help but things were quite buggy back then so I didn't expect much. > However, PEAR is supposed to be stable now(?). My usage to date has been > restricted to manually copying the PEAR files from someone elses > successful installation. > > ps. I'm using apache 1.3.[latest] with windowsXP(sp1) and php 4.3.2(stable). > Any help *is* apprecitated. > > ** This is a shame because the PEAR repository is just what PHP needs to > move ahead IMO. There is a lot of excellent work in these packages (once > you can access them). > > > > > -- > PEAR General Mailing List (http://pear.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > >