In this new post to his blog today, Tony Bibbs asks a question that pops up every once and a while surrounding the Zend Framework - why don't they use the PEAR package distribution methods to handle the releases of the framework? (Specifically as pertains to PEAR channels)

Why hasn't Zend provided an official PEAR channel? In my search for an answer I found this response from "bkarwin": No, we have no plans to offer ZF under a PEAR channel or other piece-by-piece distribution method. Assuming bkarwin was working in some half-official capacity at Zend I'd simply ask "Why not?".

Tony wonders why, if the PEAR group (and project) has such a good thing already in place, it can't just be adapted to make releases of the various components of the framework simpler than having to wait for a whole new release to get the fixes the users need.