## Compiling shared PECL extensions with the pecl command

PECL makes it easy to create shared PHP extensions. Using the » pecl command, do the following:

$ pecl install extname

This will download the source for extname, compile, and install extname.so into your extension_dir. extname.so may then be loaded via php.ini

By default, the `pecl` command will not install packages that are marked with the `alpha` or `beta` state. If no `stable` packages are available, you may install a `beta` package using the following command:

$ pecl install extname-beta

You may also install a specific version using this variant:

$ pecl install extname-0.1

> Note:

> After enabling the extension in php.ini, restarting the web service is required for the changes to be picked up.