Constructors and Exceptions

if there is not yet consensus, i'd like to raise the question of how PECL developers should handle errors during object construction. in my day job, i always raise exceptions in such cases, but were PHP, not Java, C++ or Delphi. based on feedback from Wez, i've minimized on my use of exceptions, but constructors seem to me to be a special case. is this pretty much left at the discretion of the extension authors ? l0t3k