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You're reading from  The PEAR Installer Manifesto

Product typeBook
Published inOct 2006
Reading LevelBeginner
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781904811190
Edition1st Edition
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Gregory Beaver
Gregory Beaver
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Gregory Beaver

Gregory Beaver has been one of the most active contributors to open-source PHP development since 2001. As the primary developer of important infrastructure software such as phpDocumentor, the PEAR installer, PHP_Archive, PHP_LexerGenerator, and PHP_ParserGenerator as well as co-lead of the Phar PHP extension, Gregory has helped to ease the development needs of PHP developers around the world. After he transformed phpDocumentor from a small project into the most advanced auto-documentation tools for PHP, phpDocumentor was voted second best PHP tool in Germany-based PHP Magazin's 2003 Reader's Choice awards list for best PHP application, and voted third best PEAR package (http://tinyurl.com/bn7pb). Currently, he is working to refactor the PEAR installer for PHP 6, as well as helping to lead the PEAR community forward. Gregory blogs about his programming escapades and other news on his blog, Lot 49 (http://greg.chiaraquartet.net). Gregory also leads a mysterious double life as the cellist of the internationally renowned Chiara String Quartet (http://www.chiaraquartet.net) with whom he tours the world. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska where he is a full-time lecturer/artist-in-residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Hixson-Lied College of Fine Arts.
Read more about Gregory Beaver

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Why Support Old and Crusty package.xml 1.0?


This is a common debate in the PHP world. Why support backwards compatibility? These are old, buggy versions of PEAR, right? Yes, they are old and buggy versions and anyone using them is asking for trouble, but people may not find a compelling reason to upgrade their PEAR installer just so that they can use your package because what they have already "works for them". It is (or should be) your goal as a package distributor to make the process of upgrading as painless as possible. You should only drop package.xml version 1.0 support if you are in fact using new features of PEAR itself in the PHP code, or your package is a new one without an installed userbase.

PEAR development has progressed at a rapid pace, but the adoption of the new installer will not happen overnight. Large software projects like Linux distributions need time to evaluate the new features and make sure that everything works properly prior to adopting a new version. As PEAR developers...

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The PEAR Installer Manifesto
Published in: Oct 2006Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781904811190

Author (1)

author image
Gregory Beaver

Gregory Beaver has been one of the most active contributors to open-source PHP development since 2001. As the primary developer of important infrastructure software such as phpDocumentor, the PEAR installer, PHP_Archive, PHP_LexerGenerator, and PHP_ParserGenerator as well as co-lead of the Phar PHP extension, Gregory has helped to ease the development needs of PHP developers around the world. After he transformed phpDocumentor from a small project into the most advanced auto-documentation tools for PHP, phpDocumentor was voted second best PHP tool in Germany-based PHP Magazin's 2003 Reader's Choice awards list for best PHP application, and voted third best PEAR package (http://tinyurl.com/bn7pb). Currently, he is working to refactor the PEAR installer for PHP 6, as well as helping to lead the PEAR community forward. Gregory blogs about his programming escapades and other news on his blog, Lot 49 (http://greg.chiaraquartet.net). Gregory also leads a mysterious double life as the cellist of the internationally renowned Chiara String Quartet (http://www.chiaraquartet.net) with whom he tours the world. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska where he is a full-time lecturer/artist-in-residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Hixson-Lied College of Fine Arts.
Read more about Gregory Beaver