PEAR is the PHP Extension and Application Repository.
This manual is written in XML using a slightly enhanced version of the DocBook 5 XML DTD, using PHP's very own DocBook rendering system PhD.
This guide explains the general structure, layout, and conventions used in the PEAR manual. The manual is divided into six main parts, they are:
This section contains a gentle introduction to what PEAR is and has to offer. Included is general information about installing and using PEAR, support options, and answers to frequently asked PEAR related questions.
General information about developing and releasing PEAR-Packages.
This section contains documentation about the core PEAR classes. These core components are the base to every PEAR class and understanding the basics will allow general use of the PEAR library. Topics include the PEAR base, PEAR administration, error handling through use of the PEAR_Error object, and system commands. These classes are generally shipped with every source PHP distribution.
There are many PEAR packages with the number growing every day. Most every package is documented and most are not installed by default. For information on installing PEAR classes on your system, be sure to read the Installation chapter.
Each documented class contains basic documentation about the packages publically available functions. There may also be additional information like an introduction, list of available constants, and example uses of the given package. Additional information may also exist within the package source files themselves.
The description of each function may contain some or all of the following parts:
Synopsis
Shows the structure and prototype of the function.
Description
Gives a description about what the function does.
Parameter
Describes each parameter for the function along with the parameter types and names. Both required and optional parameters are listed.
Returns
Describes the returned value, if the function doesn't fail.
Throws
Describes the returned PEAR_Error objects, if the function fails.
Note
Additional notes and information about the function. An example note would be if the function can be called statically.
See
Links to other related functions or manual entries.
Example
An example use of the function or class.
Contains information for writing your own PEAR Packages.
The following is a list of people that are helping to maintain this documentation. If you would like to contact one of them, please write to pear-doc@lists.php.net.
Lorenzo Alberton
Gregory Beaver
David Coallier
Daniel Convissor
David Costa
Thomas V.V. Cox
Michael Gauthier
Christophe Gesché
Ken Guest
Martin Jansen
Alan Knowles
Clay Loveless
Alexander Merz
Stefan Neufeind
Jon Parise
Tobias Schlitt
Stephan Schmidt
Mika Tuupola
Michael Wallner
Christian Weiske
Mark Wiesemann
(In alphabetic order.)