diff --git a/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/cli/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/cli/Dockerfile
index e34b13a2df..c120abab24 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/cli/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/cli/Dockerfile
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -172,6 +175,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	\
 	apk del --no-network .build-deps; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/fpm/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/fpm/Dockerfile
index 44991455d0..c9244155d1 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/fpm/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/fpm/Dockerfile
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -173,6 +176,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	\
 	apk del --no-network .build-deps; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/zts/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/zts/Dockerfile
index c012a2a0ab..0828e2c605 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/zts/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/alpine3.10/zts/Dockerfile
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -173,6 +176,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	\
 	apk del --no-network .build-deps; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/cli/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/cli/Dockerfile
index 5108eb6a13..4044a53e49 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/cli/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/cli/Dockerfile
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -172,6 +175,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	\
 	apk del --no-network .build-deps; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/fpm/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/fpm/Dockerfile
index 4a32f8b905..d8851dcb17 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/fpm/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/fpm/Dockerfile
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -173,6 +176,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	\
 	apk del --no-network .build-deps; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/zts/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/zts/Dockerfile
index b0cfe0d300..52497e824d 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/zts/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/alpine3.9/zts/Dockerfile
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -173,6 +176,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	\
 	apk del --no-network .build-deps; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/stretch/apache/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/stretch/apache/Dockerfile
index 6329a66240..4892415ec3 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/stretch/apache/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/stretch/apache/Dockerfile
@@ -234,6 +234,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -266,6 +269,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	; \
 	apt-get purge -y --auto-remove -o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=false; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/stretch/cli/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/stretch/cli/Dockerfile
index 9c9f9f243f..41e5a97a92 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/stretch/cli/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/stretch/cli/Dockerfile
@@ -174,6 +174,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -206,6 +209,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	; \
 	apt-get purge -y --auto-remove -o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=false; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/stretch/fpm/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/stretch/fpm/Dockerfile
index 70793c5cdd..0d91f78112 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/stretch/fpm/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/stretch/fpm/Dockerfile
@@ -175,6 +175,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -207,6 +210,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	; \
 	apt-get purge -y --auto-remove -o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=false; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/7.4-rc/stretch/zts/Dockerfile b/7.4-rc/stretch/zts/Dockerfile
index 20c6c63c61..4e72f75b9b 100644
--- a/7.4-rc/stretch/zts/Dockerfile
+++ b/7.4-rc/stretch/zts/Dockerfile
@@ -175,6 +175,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
@@ -207,6 +210,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 	; \
 	apt-get purge -y --auto-remove -o APT::AutoRemove::RecommendsImportant=false; \
 	\
+# update pecl channel definitions https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/443
+	pecl update-channels; \
+	rm -rf /tmp/pear ~/.pearrc; \
 # smoke test
 	php --version
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile-alpine.template b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
index 5fd1d9c6d3..5fedc4f575 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-alpine.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-alpine.template
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
diff --git a/Dockerfile-debian.template b/Dockerfile-debian.template
index 8c901b86f2..df37b04e60 100644
--- a/Dockerfile-debian.template
+++ b/Dockerfile-debian.template
@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 		--with-openssl \
 		--with-zlib \
 		\
+# in PHP 7.4+, the pecl/pear installers are officially deprecated (requiring an explicit "--with-pear") and will be removed in PHP 8+; see also https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494
+		--with-pear \
+		\
 # bundled pcre does not support JIT on s390x
 # https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/libpcre3-dev/pcrejit.3.en.html#AVAILABILITY_OF_JIT_SUPPORT
 		$(test "$gnuArch" = 's390x-linux-gnu' && echo '--without-pcre-jit') \
diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index dc55a4f5de..1d16e5c03b 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -165,10 +165,17 @@ for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
 				sed -ri \
 					-e '/oniguruma-dev|libonig-dev/d' \
 					"$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile"
-			else
-				# 7.4 and above no longer include pecl/pear: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/3781
+			fi
+			if [ "$majorVersion" -ge '8' ]; then
+				# 8 and above no longer include pecl/pear (see https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494)
+				sed -ri \
+					-e '/pear |pearrc|pecl.*channel/d' \
+					"$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile"
+			fi
+			if [ "$majorVersion" != '7' ] || [ "$minorVersion" -lt '4' ]; then
+				# --with-pear is only relevant on PHP 7, and specifically only 7.4+ (see https://github.com/docker-library/php/issues/846#issuecomment-505638494)
 				sed -ri \
-					-e '\!pecl.*channel|/tmp/pear!d' \
+					-e '/--with-pear/d' \
 					"$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile"
 			fi
 			if [ "$majorVersion" = '7' -a "$minorVersion" -lt '2' ]; then
@@ -184,10 +191,19 @@ for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
 			fi
 
 			# remove any _extra_ blank lines created by the deletions above
-			awk '
-				NF > 0 { blank = 0 }
-				NF == 0 { ++blank }
-				blank < 2 { print }
+			gawk '
+				{
+					if (NF == 0 || (NF == 1 && $1 == "\\")) {
+						blank++
+					}
+					else {
+						blank = 0
+					}
+
+					if (blank < 2) {
+						print
+					}
+				}
 			' "$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile" > "$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile.new"
 			mv "$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile.new" "$version/$suite/$variant/Dockerfile"