Question

Is there any way to install PHP:s PECL handler on Mac OS X 10.6, to be used with the bundled PHP?

Answer 1

Better late than never, but if you are like me and installed PHP directly from php.net (instead of using something like Homebrew or Port, then you can simply follow the following link to install Pear and PECL:

http://akrabat.com/php/setting-up-php-mysql-on-os-x-10-7-lion/

We need PEAR! For some reason, it’s not set up ready to on Lion, but
the install phar file is here, so we just need to run it.

cd /usr/lib/php
sudo php install-pear-nozlib.phar

Edit:
/etc/php.ini and find the line: ;
  include_path = ".:/php/includes" 
and change it to:
  include_path = ".:/usr/lib/php/pear"
sudo pear channel-update pear.php.net
sudo pecl channel-update pecl.php.net
sudo pear upgrade-all

It worked fine for me.