--- a/pear/Makefile.frag	2020-03-17 11:40:21.000000000 +0100
+++ b/pear/Makefile.frag	2020-04-12 22:29:31.846943414 +0200
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ FETCH = `which fetch 2>/dev/null`
 PEAR_PREFIX = -dp a${program_prefix}
 PEAR_SUFFIX = -ds a$(program_suffix)
 PEAR_INSTALLER_URL = https://pear.php.net/install-pear-nozlib.phar
+PEAR_PHP ?= $(top_builddir)/sapi/cli/php
 
 install-pear-installer: $(SAPI_CLI_PATH)
-	@$(top_builddir)/sapi/cli/php $(PEAR_INSTALL_FLAGS) pear/install-pear-nozlib.phar -d "$(peardir)" -b "$(bindir)" ${PEAR_PREFIX} ${PEAR_SUFFIX}
+	@$(PEAR_PHP) $(PEAR_INSTALL_FLAGS) pear/install-pear-nozlib.phar -d "$(peardir)" -b "$(bindir)" ${PEAR_PREFIX} ${PEAR_SUFFIX}
 
 install-pear:
 	@echo "Installing PEAR environment:      $(INSTALL_ROOT)$(peardir)/"
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ install-pear:
 			elif test ! -z "$(FETCH)" && test -x "$(FETCH)"; then \
 				"$(FETCH)" -o $(builddir)/ "${PEAR_INSTALLER_URL}"; \
 			else \
-				$(top_builddir)/sapi/cli/php -n $(srcdir)/fetch.php "${PEAR_INSTALLER_URL}" $(builddir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar; \
+				$(PEAR_PHP) -n $(srcdir)/fetch.php "${PEAR_INSTALLER_URL}" $(builddir)/install-pear-nozlib.phar; \
 			fi \
 		fi \
 	fi