www magentocommerce com/wiki/groups/227/installing_magento_via_shell_ssh
(replace spaces with .)
When you run "./pear mage-setup ." you are supposed to get a lot of output and a pear.ini file is supposed to be created. No output is given in my case, it just goes back to the command line after about 2 seconds and no config file is created. Any further commands (such as ./pear install) tell me I need to run setup first.
I've looked at the pear script and it seems fairly straightforward. I can't imagine why it simply wouldn't work on my server.
Any advice would be appreciated, even thought I know this isn't the correct venue for it.