diff --git a/package/alessandro/php/php.conf b/package/alessandro/php/php.conf
index 694519908..b75c01e64 100644
--- a/package/alessandro/php/php.conf
+++ b/package/alessandro/php/php.conf
@@ -57,5 +57,8 @@ pkginstalled libxml2 && var_append extraconfopt " " "--with-dom"
 pkginstalled libxslt && var_append extraconfopt " " "--with-dom-xslt"
 pkginstalled qt && var_append extraconfopt " " "--with-qtdom"
 
+# copy pre-downloaded PEAR file to $(srcdir) so it's not downloaded a build time
+hook_add premake 5 "cp -a $archdir/install-pear-nozlib-${pear_version}.phar pear/install-pear-nozlib.phar"
+
 postmake='cp php.ini-* $docdir'
 
diff --git a/package/alessandro/php/php.desc b/package/alessandro/php/php.desc
index 6800841a5..58433ef60 100644
--- a/package/alessandro/php/php.desc
+++ b/package/alessandro/php/php.desc
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
 
 #if xpkg == php5
 [V] 5.1.4
+[O] pear_version=2006-05-17
 [D] 3512308187 php-5.1.4.tar.bz2 http://static.php.net/www.php.net/distributions/
+[D] 3500472770 install-pear-nozlib-2006-05-17.phar http://pear.php.net/
 #endif