PEAR stands for "PHP Extension and Application Repository". PEAR is a framework and distribution system for reusable PHP components. The purpose of PEAR is to provide:

- A library of open-source code for PHP users
- Package maintenance
- A standard style for code written in PHP.
- A web site, mailing lists and download mirrors to support the PHP/PEAR community.

Installation:

To install PEAR package, you can recompile your Apache with Pear support enabled from your server. The base installation that comes with the PHP distribution, contains all the stuff that is needed to run the PEAR installation tools etc. The PEAR base installation is already there, unless you have compiled your PHP with the ./configure flag --without-pear.

The packages that do not come with PHP can be installed with the PEAR package manager.