PEAR has a number of configuration options that you can change. Getting an overview about them is as easy as issuing a
$ pear config-show |
The default settings suffice for novice users, there is rarely a need to change them when getting started. You can go on with installing packages.
Reading single values is accomplished by using config-get. The following command will show you where all the .php files of your installed pear packages reside.
$ pear config-get php_dir /usr/share/pear |
Changing a value is as easy as retrieving it:
$ pear config-set preferred_state beta config-set succeeded |
Note: When changing a config setting, it does not immediately get applied to already installed packages. This is especially true when changing variables like data_dir. Use $ pear upgrade --force to reinstall all packages in such cases.